Hunter and Prey
by Mensch23
Summary: My take on Whitetigerwolf's MONSTEROUS CHALLENGE Aurelia Potter refused to be prey but the darkness of her inner predator scared even her. Co-writer Leez. Creature!Harry , Demi-Monster!Harry , FEM!Harry , eventual Femslash (Harry / Artemis)
1. A Monster's Heart

**This is the edited version of chapter one. Have fun reading :)  
**

**Disclaimer: I own nothing. J.K. Rowling and Rick Riordan do.**

Once upon a time... this is how a fairy tale traditionally begins... but this is no fairy tale. This is the story of a young girl born from one of the most furious enemies of Olympus. It is a story about her hardship in life, her pain and her suffering. But it also is the story of her success, her growth and of finding love were no one would have ever expected her to find anything but death. This is the story of one Aurelia Potter.

...

It was Saturday morning, she had lain awake on her small bed for the last two hours waiting so that she could leave her cupboard, the Dursleys had locked the door overnight as always and it would soon be time for her to start preparing their breakfast again like every other morning.

She hated weekends, or holidays for that matter, when she didn't have school to attend. In school she at least had no chores to take care of until she was forced back "home" and in class, at least when a teacher was present, no one bullied her or treated her like she was worthless. But on the weekends she felt more like a slave than ever.

Once she was let out and was finished preparing the Dursleys breakfast, and she may or may not had a few leftovers depending on uncle Vernon's mood, she would have to work in the garden, then after that she would clean the house and go grocery shopping with aunt Petunia.

All in all not what a normal child would call a fun day, but this had been her life for as long as she could remember and as aunt Petunia and uncle Vernon were always so quick to remind her, Dudley too as he grew older and began to copy his parents, she wasn't a normal child, she was a freak. And freaks did as they were told and were grateful for what little scraps they were given... Or else.

Little did she know that today they would all see what kind of freak she really was.

...

That morning while Aurelia prepared breakfast like usual, her aunt surprised her by coming into the kitchen and reminding her that today was a special day. In the evening her uncle would have his boss and his boss's wife over for dinner, so everything had to be perfect or there would be dire consequences!

...

After she was done with her chores, at close to seven p.m., she retired back into her cupboard to rest and lay on her bed waiting for the day to end and another just like it to start all over again. Even as exhausted as she was it still took an hour or two for her to begin to fall asleep, just as she was about to sink into her only source of peace however, she was quickly startled wide awake by the door of her cupboard being ripped open and the massive footsteps of a scarlet faced Vernon as he began to scream at her.

Vernon was seething with rage as he quickly advanced on her stepping into the cupboard.

"It's all your fault!" - He screamed at her.

_What's my fault?! -_ Aurelia panicked as she hurriedly retreated back into the corner of the room, it wasn't the first time he let out his anger on her and she had no doubt that it wouldn't be the last.

"I'll show you what a little _freak_ like you deserves" - He said as he began to undo his belt and lower his trousers with a sadistic gleam in his eyes.

"Ruin my promotion will you?! You little bitch!"

_Something must have gone wrong at the dinner, _\- she concluded to herself,- _And it looks like he's decided to blame me again._ She just hoped he would hurry and be done with it, a beating she could endure.

"You nasty little bugger" – He said as he let his pants fell down on the dusty ground of her living quarters and he reached for her.

"Now you will earn your stay here like the whore you are!" - Uncle Vernon spat, every word filled with loathing.

She was utterly terrified, she had never saw Vernon this enraged, she could smell the alcohol on him and she feared what he would do to her. But as she looked at him and saw the hatred in his narrowed accusing eyes, regarding her as _prey_ to satisfy his needs upon, something to use as he wished, something shifted inside of her.

Her whole being seemed to change.

No! She was the prey, he was.

Why was she scared of a lowly _human_, who was nothing but a meatbag there to feast upon?

She was the hunter here, he was the victim.

In his approach with his lower body now almost completely bare, Vernon Dursley never saw the change in his niece's demeanour, he never realised that she was no longer hiding and retreating, that instead she was tensed, lurking in the shadows for him to come closer.

Even the changes of her body were hidden from his eyes by the darkness of the room. Her shoulder-length raven-black hair was now a shining gold-blond, her eyes had shifted to an unearthly orange and her fingernails grown in length and seemed to be made out of a bronze metal resembling claws.

So, with his pants down and fist raised he was caught completely off guard as she lunged for him.

"You little wench I show..." - His shouting cut off as her bronze claws tore through his throat, slipping through bone and ripping flesh without the slightest resistance.

Surprised at how easy it was, as Aurelia watched her uncle lie there dying she was utterly mesmerised by the blood gushing out of the large mans obviously mortal wound. She was a predator and this was her prize. She relished in the fear apparent in the dying man's gaze, this was what she was born for, she was born to hunt and to feast on her kills.

With a primal lust for blood overcoming her she gracefully bent down and savagely pulled her uncle's head back by his sweaty hair exposing his neck further to her gaze as he struggled. With a strength she never knew she possessed she easily held him down as flailed and struggled against her, and leaning forwards, inhaled deeply thorough her nose. She could smell everything in the room, from her old dirty mattress to single particles of dust, but all of it was coated by the utterly sweet scent of fresh blood. It awoke a deep lust for still warm fresh meat in her to still her hunger for the first time in her life. She reached down but before she could continue a sharp scream ripped her out of her daze.

"VERNON!". - The shrill voice of Petunia Dursley was heard.

Swiftly turning to the source of the scream she spotted her aunt standing in the door looking at her standing over her dead husband with horror written all over her face. As she sneered and growled at her aunt, Aurelia suddenly felt weak in her knees while her stomach clenched as she remembered what she nearly had done. She didn't know what came over her, but she knew that it wasn't leaving even now she could hear a little voice in the back of her mind telling her to kill her aunt, to break her neck, to finally test if she could make that knot with it that she had imagined for so long.

As the voice grew louder, she knew that she had to get out of here, fast. Never come back. But first she would put an end to her aunt. She had denied her her very humanity and treated her like a slave for years! Petunia was just prey, weak and useless. Shifting smoothly, Aurelia turned fully towards her aunt, looking deep into Petunias eyes, her own shining maliciously in the dark.

Aurelia swiftly lunged to the door where her aunt had frozen in shock before Petunia could react, grabbing her by her throat and shoving her up against the wall right beside the cupboard's entrance, smacking her head against and loudly cracking the wall. Petunia gasped for air, her eyes begging for mercy, receiving none, as Aurelia squeezed her throat while holding her against the wall. As Petunia slowly turned blue, she raised her claws before bringing them down on her shredding the face of her aunt.

As she let her new prey fall down to the ground Aurelia felt a shift in the air, her instincts screaming at her that her time was running out. Taking her time to first sneer at her aunts corpse, Aurelia swiftly turned before taking off at a sprint into the hallway and running for the door.

Her speed reaching previously unknown heights she sprinted with all her might through the dark house. She had always been fast, but as she ran she was now pretty sure she left afterimages.

The front door smashed falling victim to her new found strength as she jumped and crashed straight through it tearing it rom its hinges and leaving parts of it scattered across the lawn and driveway.

Landing in the front lawn of number Four Privet Drive, a few feet away from the road, in a cloud of glass shards and splinters of wood Aurelia quickly gave herself a once over for any injuries or cuts before quickly noticing that her skin didn't have a single scratch, which she found momentarily quite impressive considering she had just crashed through a heavy wooden door face first with with a heavy glass plate in it.

It was then that the the voice in her mind left leaving her felling vaguely empty, before the disgust set in and her stomach clenched in disgust. She didn't mourned or felt guilty for her relatives deaths but she couldn't believe that she nearly had eaten human flesh. As she remembered the sudden and immense lust for killing she knew she had to leave, she didn't want to live endangering others and she knew the danger of being caught were high here.

Not knowing where to go she just started running away from London and all of the lights. To find a place to belong to, that was her goal, for now at least .

**If there are any questions just PM me or leave a review.**

**Next chapter will hopefully be done soon after adjusting to the few changes made in this chapter and a bit of fine tuning.**


	2. From The Wild

**So chapter 2 is a go. I hope you will enjoy it as much as the last.**

**Also I would like to thank all of you for reading my story and a special thanks to the few of you who took the time to review.**

**I do not own anything. J.K. Rowling and Rick Riordan do.**

Dumbledore's POV

It was five years ago that Aurelia Potter went missing.

The then eight year old girl had escaped police and society after brutally murdering her aunt and uncle.

And he couldn't stop blaming himself for how every thing played out. He had seen the whole evening in young Dudley's mind who had hidden upstairs.

He was the one who had decided to leave the child with her relatives in hopes of protecting her from evil. Now it seemed as if he himself had put the evil inside a loving family, not knowing that he ruined their lifes with his actions that day. They even warned him, saying she was a freak, and he disregarded their concerns to manaphobic behaviour and envy.

He felt as if he truly failed his late friends James and Lily Potter that fate full night. He should have seen the evil that most certainly was left on their child's mind by Voldemort. Maybe he could have done something then, but now it was too late to help, the evil already has festered into something incurable, as the murder of her relatives clearly showed.

Not only the lifes of a married couple, but also the famed Girl-Who-Lived were lost. Which led him to the prophecy, he must have misunderstood it. Aurelia Potter could not be the proclaimed saviour, but as far as he knew Neville Longbottom could also fit the terms of the prophecy. He must be the Chosen One instead of Aurelia Potter.

And now it was his task to end what he himself set into motion, he would bring an end to the corrupted girl and prepare young Neville for his destiny.

He had to keep his eyes open and investigate every single trace he could find of Aurelia in both magical and muggle society, he would find her and right the wrongs he caused to happen.

Thinking about Aurelia always reminded him painfully of what happened with his once best freind Gellert Grindelwald, and for him that was all the more reason to find her quickly.

But first he would have to wait for something to happen, for her to make a mistake, so his main focus would be on Magical Britain's future saviour as it had been for the last five years.

Neville's third year would soon begin, and he couldn't afford to lose their concentration now.

He prayed to the gods for guidance through the dark days and hard choices which lay before him.

...

Aurelia's POV

It's been five years since she left her old life, and three since she left Britain for good.

It was a rather strange occurrence which led her to America and to where she was standing now.

...

It was a cold and rainy night as she came upon an opening in a cliff well hidden from the eye and marked with a strange symbol over the entrance. Curiously and in search for shelter, she entered what seemed to be a human made tunnel.

After walking for about half an hour aimlessly through what she soon realised was some sort of maze she had to, grudgingly, admit to herself that she was hopelessly lost.

_I bet the one who built this thought he just invented the rad anew 'Hey let's build a maze, ok? Where? Oh, how about that cliff over there, no objections? Well then let's start!' - _Aurelia sarcastically commented in her mind.

Not even her superior senses could help her finding a way out, in these dark tunnels where everything looked so similar and the air hadn't shifted in what seemed to be centuries she couldn't orientate like she would be able to in a forest.

After another hour of wandering she started to become desperate in finding her way out, not minding a little rain that much anymore.

She felt herself fall into a panic, not liking the closeness of the walls and the lack of nature in this place, so she started to run down the dark corridors, taking turns at random until she reached, what appeared to be a clearing better suited for a lively forest than an underground maze, full of various animals and plantlife including trees.

"Ah, would you see what we have here?" - A voice sounded from behind her.

In shock she quickly whipped around into a crouch, focusing her gaze on the strange new man now in front of her, ready to strike with her claws extended.

And he was strange his upper body was free of any clothing displaying the toned and muscular body of a runner, and beneath that he had those goat legs she had seen on a few people before who would always flee as soon as they caught her scent, sometimes they were the in company of others, non half goats, sometimes not.

But he wasn't one of them, so much she could tell, he reeked of power and the very nature. He looked endless, eternal, wise and wild watching her with brown intelligent eyes. In his presence the predator inside of her retreated back to the darker corners of her mind.

"What reason would one of your kin have to be here in my sanctuary, monster?" - He spoke with authority in his voice.

At that she could only flinch, - _It is what I am, my body makes me a freak and the predator in my mind makes me a monster._ \- She thought sadly to herself.

"I got myself lost in this maze, sir. Could you please help me find my way out?" - Aurelia replied as politely as she could to his question, losing her guard knowing that there was no way she could defeat or escape this man if he wanted to harm her, that being said, she wouldn't go down without a fight but there was no reason to give him the idea that it was better to smite her than not.

"How odd, a monster which can't see through the Labyrinth, that shouldn't be ... well it shouldn't be possible..." - The man mused to himself - "... unless you're not a monster... hmm... that's it, you can't be a monster, at least not a common one, which leads us to the next question. The question of what you are?" - His interest was obviously roused.

Becoming more daring at not having been smite by now, and also taking a liking on him despite herself, she answered – "Well to begin with my name is Aurelia, Aurelia Potter." - Which caused a loud laugh to break out of him.

Smiling he said – "Pleasure to meet you Aurelia, my name is Pan the God of the Wild and Lord of Satyrs."

"Nice to meet you Pan." – Somehow the thought of gods being real and further more meeting one didn't shock her as much as it maybe should have, but reflecting on what she had seen the past two years gods were just the next link in an endless chain.

"Aurelia do you know what you are?" - He inquired, wanting to know, fascinated by the young girl. He could smell the powerful scent of monster on her but there was something else to it something he hadn't smelled in a thousand years.

The answer he got was one he didn't expect – "I am what you called me before, a monster, a freak, a mistake of nature."

She said this with so much self loathing that he began to wonder what her story was, and looking in her orange eyes he finally saw what she was.

A being divided in itself much like a demigod, only with the difference that a demigods divine half didn't see the other half as food.

She was a Half-Blood of a different kind, she was a demi-monster. For such a thing to happened it would require a powerful monster, strong in mind and body, not to kill the other parent before the child was conceived and with genes potent enough to mix with the human's.

He felt pity for her, the only ones with worse lifes than demigods were half monsters. Cursed to never find a place to belong to they either choose suicide or more often, to lose themselves in their own darkness.

"Believe me when I say that nature does not make mistakes, and besides, I do think I know what you are." - He smiled at her.

He didn't want that sort of thing happened to her, he wanted to help her, for he could feel that she was a part of the Wild, she just had to fuse her two halves and become one. If she succeeded in that there was no doubt in him that a great destiny would await her. One full of hardship but great none the less.

He spoke in a kind voice – "Girl how about me teaching you about this world of ours? Then after I am done training you I will show you the way out of the Labyrinth?"

_Can I trust him? – _Aurelia pondered – _Do I even have a choice, it's not as if I could find my way out alone?_

"If you don't want to I'll still take you out of here." – Pan interrupted her thoughts, knowing what was going on in her head.

Taking some time to consider her options, finding that she trusted him which was strange for her, she came to a decision – "I would very much like to learn from you, Pan."

"Then it is decided during the next few years, I will teach you all you need to know about the gods, how to defend yourself and about the wild, but most important I will teach you about yourself, of what you are and how to merge with your other more primal half".

He was a friendly, good soul she saw that but nonetheless she felt that for the foreseeable future she would come to know another side of him, the one she only caught a glimpse of when she first lay eye upon him.

That was how she came to the U.S.A after training under the god Pan for three years.

...

During those years of training she discoverd many truths about herself, for example that she could use magic what leaded to her training getting an additonal subject called Nature Magic, also she became one with her other half. She accepted that she was neither human nor monster. She knew that there would be no mercy from demigods and monster alike for her, but she was ready. At least she thought so.

In the mornings Pan showed her how to defend herself using a staff, saying that she couldn't always relay on her claws in a fight, he even created one for her using his goldly powers. What he also created was a tough training schedule to advance her body, which included climbing, running then later climbing and running with stones on her back as she grew stronger.

In the afternoon Pan would teach her one of the various subjects she apparently had to know like ancient greek, maths and biology. She wasn't very good with either of them but the basics came through to her.

The evenings were fully commited to merging herself and the beast in her. Learning that she was part monster was somehow relieving for her, now she knew that she was not a freak that she was just a part of this world as any other.

Nevertheless the first time she came face to face with her other half she was deadly afraid and it attacked her sensing her fear, the next few times weren't exactly better but she made prosses.

On weekends Pan would show her magic, how to use it and how to use it the most efficiently. She was a natural at it. Magic came to her like breathing to normal humans. Where she needed a focus, like her staff, at the beginning she could now work most her magic without one, well Nature Magic at least.

They even tested out her monster abilities. She definetly was stronger and faster than your average demigod, she had retractable claws out of celestial bronze, with which she was rather good in fighting, and advanced senses like hearing, sight and her sense of smell, but the most useful was her very skin which worked like a decent armour shielding her from cuts and harm.

In the long nights inside of the Labyrinth they told each other storys both sad and good, being happy to finally having someone to share and feel with after a long time.

...

Laying on her back next to Pan in the green grass of Pan's chamber turned clearing Aurelia asked – "Why did you choose to teach me?"

"As I said before you're a nice girl." - He answered grinning.

"Yeah but you didn't know me then. I want to know the reason why you decided to keep me, a potential threat to your peaceful sanctuary, around."

"This has bugged you for some time hasn't it?" – Pan smiled at her, before turning serious. - "The reason is rather simple, I saw inside you what the Wild truly stands for. Both aspects, the dangerous and peaceful, that make nature so wonderful. I could then and still now can see a great destiny laying in front of you." - As he spoke she could again feel the wisdom of the wild in him.

Feeling embarrassed she quickly tried changing the subject before he could continue, now convinced it wasn't out of pity, or at least only pity that he took her in. - "So did you see the deers did today? One would think they had learned from the last time..."

...

Standing in front of one of the entrances to Daedalus' Labyrinth was a tall blond girl. Her skin had a soft tan and her bare arms showed that she was well in form. With 5'6 she also was quite tall for a girl her age.

But what caught the attention of anybody who ever looked at her, were her eyes. Her once beautiful emerald green eyes were now a light reflecting orange with slightly slit pupils. Still beautiful, but another kind of beauty, one that told of danger and passion.

She was clad in a green tunic, a leather pelt with a small pouch attached to it, and brown leather sandals. In her right hand she held a long staff.

Not ideal cothing for a winter night like this, but cold and warmth mean little when you can cast simple heating or cooling charm.

She was a confident, strong, and she admitted to herself, slightly arrogant thirteen year old girl. Her name was Aurelia Potter, student of the god Pan the Lord of the Wild, daughter of a monster.

Stepping outside into the cold she muttered something and near instantly she was enveloped by warmth.

Not knowing where to go she decided to take a look around. After a few minutes of wandering she came to the edge of the woods and saw herself facing a cliff and on it a group which consisted of three teenagers who must be demigods judging by their smell and usage of archaic weapons and what was clearly a satyr fighting a battle against the one and only Manticore.

The small army of monsters closing in on them certainly did not help their chances of survival, but just as it looked like they were done for, tghe fighting was interrupted by the a loud call of a hunting horn cutting through the night air.

The hunt just arrived on scene, which meant nothing good for all monsters, males and half-monsters, today represented by her, present.

...

**Thank you for reading and please review and tell me what you think.**

**M23**


	3. Moonset

**Here's chapter three, hope you enjoy reading it as much as I writing it.**

**Once again, thank you for reading and a special thanks to all of you who took the time to review.**

**I do not own anything. J.K. Rowling and Rick Riordan do.**

Aurelia's POV

It was a truly awe-inspiring sight. The Hunters fought like water and steel in harmony. With an unbreakable discipline and teamwork they fought the veritable army of monsters, but still were as swift as dancers as they dodged and floated through the mob of enemies, spotting weaknesses while swiftly and ruthlessly taking advantage of them.

It was obvious in this moment that most of the Hunters had centuries worth of experience in fighting and working together as a team.

Pan had warned her about them. The Hunters of Artemis, an elite group of demigods and clear sighted mortals blessed by their leader, the Goddess of the Hunt herself, with unnatural grace and speed as well as an form of immortality. They trained and lived as a closely knitted unit, having sworn off love and males, spending their time hunting monsters and threats to Olympus under Artemis guidance.

The battle, if one could really call it such for it was more of a slaughter than a battle, was rather short and ended with the loss of one of the campers, a young blond girl despite the hunters intervention. She was captured by the Manticore in a moment of inattentiveness as the Demigods fought for their lives and the Hunters did all they could to defeat their enemy as soon as possible.

She would have certainly enjoyed the show in spite of the ending, if it hadn't remind her of what was awaiting her, if the Hunt found her. Death by arrow wasn't high on her to-do list. So she decided, that the best thing to do for now, was to stay hidden and watch the events unfold.

And that did work out just fine for her... at least in the beginning.

...

It was a fair distance between the joint group of campers and hunters, and her hiding spot in the bushes, at the edge of the forest. But still with her advanced hearing the distance could just as well have been a few short meters.

With nothing better to do while hiding, she listened in on the campers, the hunters and the goddess from her hideout, in hopes to learn what was going on here outside the Labyrinth and what this all was about.

Apparently the campers were sent to rescue two powerful half-bloods, a brother and sister, from an unknown monster. The Manticore it would seem, which didn't quite worked out as planned, as recent events proved. From the two new half-bloods one, the girl of course, was given an offer by Artemis to join the hunt in exchange for a vow of eternal maidenhood which she accepted. Her brother wasn't too thrilled by it, to say the least. Also the girl, who was captured at the end of the battle, must have been very close to the one male camper if his reaction was anything to go by, disrespecting a goddess, Artemis at that.

Listening to all of this she only noticed the satyr's shift in behaviour when it was too late. He grew more nervous by the minute and started to looked around frantically.

"Perce I think there is one more here" – The satyr's voice broke through her musings.

Honestly, she should have known better than to underestimate a satyr after living together with Pan for three years, it was embarrassing.

"What do you mean by one more, Grover? One more what?" – The black haired male camper asked back confused.

He hadn't struck her as the sharpest tool in the box, but even he must have realised what his friend meant by that.

_Maybe the sudden loss of his girlfriend clouds his mind _– she thought to herself forgetting her particular situation for just a moment – _but still, smart or clever are sure not the sort of adjective I'd choose for him._

"A monster, Percy" – The satyr, Grover, said as if he was used to his friend's slowness, of thought that is, she saw earlier he wasn't half bad with that sword of his.

By now they had gained the attention of Artemis, who was just standing a few feet away. - "What do you mean satyr? What kind of monster is it?"

"I-I don't know it's scent is d-different than the ones I smelled before." - He was nervous and it showed in his voice.

"Then descibe it" – Artemis ordered as she signaled her hunters to be ready.

It took a while for Groover to find a suitable description, and with every passing minute Aurelia grew more nervous.

"It reeks of fur and forest, but with a metallic note to it... and there are other smells I don't quite recognize, there's this smell similar to the unique note every magical object has and also the smell of human mixed to it."

The lieutenant, a beautiful raven-haired girl with obsidian eyes, stepped forward and asked – "What do thou think it is, my lady?"

"Fur and forest, a metallic note. No, it can't be... you must be mistaken...the last time this monster walked the earth was in the Age of Heroes, I had thought it faded." - The sudden worry in the Moon Goddess's face and voice caused many of the assembled to become worried themselves, looking around and into the shadows which seemed darker and larger than just a minute ago.

"Of which monster do thou speak,my lady? The one the Manticore mentioned?" - Zoë asked curiously, originating herself from the Age of Heroes.

"No," - Came Artemis's short answer before she continued - "this one is not as old as the one Kronos searches for, still, a demigod is no match for it, even minor gods should not underestimate it."

"So what is it?" - Percy asked earning himself glares from the hunt and a belittling look from Artemis.

"The Nemean lion" – She simply said, before ordering everyone to come together as the sun began to rise and with it what looked like a burning red car.

Apollo, the Sun God had just arrived.

Grover POV

Grover was lost in thought, he couldn't shake the feeling felt that his sense of smell was being deceived by something. He had smelled the monster as clear as any other, but instinctively he knew that there was a part of it hidden. He couldn't help but feel that the scent was slightly off, like someone didn't want all to be known so they had veiled not the monsters full scent but had still hidden a small part of it.

Hearing a loud thump be quickly looked up, he was so distracted he had nearly missed the Sun God landing in front of them.

Aurelia's POV

She couldn't believe her cursed luck. Maybe it was genetic to always have the worst of luck, she mused to herself.

It may looked like they were leaving in this, newly changed, bus, but for how long could she escape the notice of two gods?

As she heard Artemis saying the hunters were to stay at Camp Half-Blood while she was hunting the monster Kronos searched for, Aurelia thought that she had just about succeeded in waiting the whole situation out, a little more time and she could leave the hiding place.

That was until she heard Artemis say that she just had to do one thing before they were to take off.

Not a second later her vison was filled with with light, blinding her for a moment. As soon as she could see again she knew she was in trouble, big trouble.

Here she stood in front of the hunt, three campers, a satyr and a small child as well as two major gods. There was just one thing left to say.

"...Shit!"

Her gaze wandered briefly over the group in front of her before setteling on the twin archers.

Apollo was the epitome of the sun, with blond golden hair and shining bright blue eyes he had an esay-going attitude around him. He certainly was attractive but that paled in comparison to his twin.

Artemis was by far the most beautiful person, male or female, she ever had seen in her short life. Artemis had the most stunning eyes. They were like pools of liquid silver, shining with the moon's light. The face to which these eyes belonged to was equally capturing, fair skin, aristocratically shaped features, and long aurburn hair, tied back. She rediated an aura of power, grace and authority.

Aurelia felt herself getting lost in Artemis appearance and aura.

She felt overpowered in the goddess's presence, feeling waves of power washing over her. This was the first time she truly understood the gulf of power between a minor god, like Pan, and an Olympian god, like Artemis.

"I knew it wasn't the Nemean lion. He never would himself be caught by a satyr." - At that Aurelia' cheeks became slightly rosy – "But still I can see him in you. You must be his daughter if your aura is anything to go by. But there's something else about you. Your other half also isn't human. At least not all human."

The revelation of her parentage caused serval gasps from the surrounding bystanders.

"Nemean lion? Could someone please tell me what's going on? Lil' sis?" - Apollo was heard not knowing the previous events that lead to this situation.

"The satry, Grover I believe, informed us earlier of the powerful scent of a monster in the surrounding woods. After describing the scent to us I believed it could possibly be the lion's smell, but before any of us could futher act on it, I felt your presence drawing closer so I called everyone together before searching and finding her with my godly senses." - Artemis explained calmly.

...

Artemis POV

"The Nemean lion" – She answered the sea god's son.

It was then that she felt her brother's arrival.

"In winter he always get's lazy." - She muttered to herself thinking about the creature in the woods.

She wouldn't have thought the Nemean lion as someone to let himself be caught by a satyr. No, he was far too skilled and experienced for such a mistake to happen, but still, something was out there, she knew, the satyr would not lie about that.

Her brother, of course, had to change his chariot into a sports car. A burning red one, literally burning.

After greeting her brother and warning him about how to treat my Hunters as well as explaining to the girls that they would have to stay in camp for the duration of my solo hunt, I took a deep breath and spread out my aura into the dark forest, feeling every living thing in there from small animals like squirrels, over plants and trees, to hiding Half-Bloods.

She, for it was a girl, was hidden pretty well and it quickly became clear that she wasn't inexperienced, she most likely would have succeeded in staying hidden even with two gods and a satyr present if one of the gods wasn't the goddess of the hunt.

It took more than to hide from sight alone in order to fool Artemis. One also must repress their aura and if possible scent. And those were not easy things to do.

"One more thing before you can go" – She said to the assembled group, grapping the girl with her power, flashing her infront of them.

As the girl looked at them all, after regaining her sight, she said a simple, bone dry 'shit', causing Artemis to suddenly have to stifle the urge to giggle. - _Really giggling, I mean who giggles? _

It was when the girls eyes locked with hers that she knew things were about to change. She just felt it looking the girl over.

She was tall for her age, which Artemis estimated to be around thirteen, and wore a green tunic showing of her well trained body. She had long, blond hair and skin with a slight tan. She would be a beautiful woman in the future, but what really caught her attention were the orange, glowing orbs she had for eyes. They were mesmerising.

After explaining to Apollo the situation, she knew what she had to do. She pitied the girl, it was not an easy existence she led and if the girl chose right it could become much better for her. What went unsaid here was that Artemis herself felt the need to have the girl around her.

...

Aurelia's POV

"There are two ways how we can go from here on. And it's entirely your choice." - Artemis addressed her.

All looked at either her or Artemis at her words. She did have an idea how this was going to play out.

"But first, would you be wiling to answer a few questions?"

"Of course" – Aurelia replied, knowing that she didn't have a real choice in this matter.

She was led away from the group by Artemis, only Apollo acompanying them. Several meters away, out of earshot from the group, Artemis began questioning her.

"You may ask yourself why Apollo is present here, that is because he, as the god of truth, is able to tell me if you are lying. For that to work you must answer in whole sentences or with a yes or no. Do you understand?"

To that she simply nodded. - "Good then let's begin."

"What's your name?"

"My name is Aurelia Potter."

"How old are you?"

"Thirteen year old."

"Are you aware of the Greek Gods?"

"Yes, I am aware of the Olympians moving with western civilisation."

"How?"

"I met the god Pan inside the Labyrinth, he taught me about the gods and showed me how to defend myself, for the last three years."

That shocked the gods visibly. Artemis looked at her with wide eyes before she glancing over at an equally stunned looking Apollo, who still shakily managed to give her a confirming nod.

Apollo had to clarify - "You met Pan? The Pan, the lost god? Searched for by satyrs the last two millennia? That Pan?"

Aurelia knew of Pan's self exile, she also knew that he didn't want to be found by anyone until he felt them worthy and that the time was right. He had allowed her to tell others about him, but only if needed, not that it mattered much, no one, god or not, would be able to find him in his sanctuary, not while he continued to hide himself... Still she would rather not betray his trust in her, however there was little she could do now.

"Yes, Pan, God of the Wild and Lord of Satyrs." - Aurelia replied to Apollos question.

Artemis shook her head then seemed to put the revelation of Pan still being around to the back of her mind as she continued in questioning her.

"Why did you come here and from where did you come?"

"I was born in Britain were I entered Daedalus's maze at the age of ten, I came here just because it was the nearest exit from where Pan and I had stayed at the time."

"Do you know what you are?"

"Yes I am half monster half mortal."

"Did you knew that the lion was your father?"

"We, that is Pan and I, didn't know for sure but we had our suspicions."

"What is your story?"

At that she held still in for a moment, she had not expected such a loaded question. Nevertheless she answered after taking a little time to gather her thoughts, telling the story of her life up to the point were she left the Labyrinth.

After Aurelia was finished, Artemis looked at Apollo for confimation, and after receiving a nod from him, she turned to Aurelia and said – "Don't worry if you hadn't killed them I would have done it after hearing your story." - Apollo who was nodding in agreement to his twin's statement added a small 'me too'.

Hearing that relieved her immensely, having feared that they would punish her for killing two humans.

"I apologise in advance for this question but it is important for us to know in order to narrow down your possibilities. Are you a virgin?"

"I am." - she didn't feel offended by the question, having learned from Pan that the wild does not care about such trivial things like being virgin or not.

"My last question is if you would like to join my Hunters. I only see two possible ways for you from here on. One is to join the camp and be faced with the ignorance of the campers for being a half-blooded monster and most likely being executed by Zeus for much the same reason. Possibility two is to take my offer and join the Hunt."

"You do know about the Hunt I assume with you being taught by Pan about the Gods?" - Artemis added in an afterthought.

Aurelia didn't like being forced to choose but she would be lying if she said that she wasn't tempted, it was a good offer. Especially considering that she originally thought she would be killed on sight and not be offered a place in an elite group like the Hunters. Furthermore the Hunt united nearly every thing she ever wanted from life, the hunting, living in coexistence to nature and having a place to belong to in form of a kinda family. Also a big motivator to join the hunters was the prospect of being smote by Zeus otherwise.

"Yes I know what the hunt is and I would gladly accept your kind offer, my lady." - She said showing all her respect to the goddess.

At that Apollo lost his serious demeanor and started fake crying shouting about how another beauty was lost to the world.

To the question if Zeus would still try to kill her Artemis answered. - "By being part of my hunt you fall under my domain, Zeus cannot interfere in another gods domains without an unanimous council vote, also the oath of the hunters binds them to me so there is no reason to suspect anything."

"Now speak after me: _I pledge myself to the Goddess Artemis. ..."_

_"I pledge myself to the Goddess Artemis. ..." - _She repeated after Artemis.

The oath continued. - _"... I turn my back on the company of men, ..." _

_"... I turn my back on the company of men, ..." _

_"... accept eternal maidenhood, ..." _

_"... accept eternal maidenhood, ..."_

_"... and join the Hunt. "_

_"... and join the Hunt. " - _As soon as she ended a silvery glow enveloped her. Almost instantly she felt the changes in her body.

"With the oath comes my blessing. You will find that your abilities in archery have increased as well as your speed, strength and grace. From now on you will be immortal until the day you fall in battle." - Artemis told her, seeing the question on her face.

After letting the information sink in Artemis spoke again. - "Come, you will get your gear when you reach camp, Zoë will take care of that, she is my lieutenant, you will listen to her, because she is resposible for every new recruit."

"You Ladies coming?" - Apollo asked. He was on a bit of a schedule here, sunrise and such.

"Of course." - Came the answer. - "The plan is still the same. I will start my solo hunt as soon as you are gone. And remember, no flirting."

From there on everything proceeded pretty quickly. She was introduced to the hunt as a new member, caused only a few surprised looks, most having expected it already. She also learned a lot of new names, the satyr who had detected her before was named Grover Underwood, he kept an distance between them at all times, only looking over in quick short glances when he thought she wasn't paying attention. She had a feeling that he had tried to break Pan's barrier on her scent, he had put up the barrier to hide any of his aura and scent on her in an attempt to keep others from discovering that they knew each other, he didn't want the knowledge of his continued presence or their link to each other to be discovered unless she had to give it out. The other new hunter was named Bianca di Angelo while her brother's was Nico, who wouldn't stop giving her and the other hunters dark looks. The other male camper was Percy Jackson, a son of Poseidon and from what little she saw and heard, she had little doubt that the they would be having problems in the near future. The only female camper, now that Bianca had joined the hunt and with the other blonde girl missing, was Thalia Grace, a daughter of Zeus, who kept eyeing her suspiciously as soon as she heard her heritage.

She definitely wouldn't be making any friends at camp, that was for sure. The hunters on the other hand, were very welcoming after Artemis's introduction. They were kind and every one she spoke to quickly reinforced that that the camp was a horrible place. They warned her that certain cabins were almost certain to try something on her, the children of Ares and Hermes being the ones mentioned most often, she would definitely have to be on her guard around them.

They also had made sure to tell her about the camp's cabin system and that Artemis cabin was reserved for them.

Sitting next to Zoë and another hunter she looked out of the window at the moon goddess and couldn't shake the feeling off that something was about to go terribly wrong. She couldn't shake the feeling that she should stay with Artemis although she wasn't sure why or if it was just her previous reaction to her possibly influencing her.

The roaring of the bus's engine brought her out of her thoughts and she both watched and felt as it took off in a rather unprofessional way, throwing all the passengers, including her, inside around. Holding on for dear life she quickly went to look to the driver's seat and almost immediately wished she hadn't. The reason why the chariot in bus form was being driven like it had an drunk driver was because it had a completely unexperienced driver at the wheel! After overcoming her shock she couldn't help but laugh. Hearing laughter in the back Apollo turned and winked at her smiling before turning back and attempting further instruct Thalia at the wheel.

...

**Please review. Tell me what you think.**


	4. Fate's Path

**Thanks to you all of you for reading and a special thanks, like always, goes to those of you who took some time to review. :) **

**Please continue to do so =)**

**Disclaimer: I own nothing. J.K. Rowling and Rick Riordan do.**

Aurelia's POV

To say that she hated camp would be an understatement. She knew that it wouldn't be easy to relax or let her guard down around the camp considering both her heritage and that she was arriving as one of the hunters, but she would never have guessed the amount of pure animosity that awaited her from the campers.

...

Her first day at Camp Half – Blood had not gone as well as she had hoped, but then again what had she expected.

Crash landing in the camp's lake was the most enjoyable part of her day, and it had been fun to fly, that much she would admit.

Once she reached the lake's shore however it started to go down hill where she was faced with the eyes of, what she guessed was, every single demigod currently staying at the camp. The looks she got were rejecting, immediately recognising her as a part of the Hunt in her new hunter's uniform consisting of a silver parka and combat boots as well as black pants.

It was only after the rest of the hunters were ashore and Zoë had told Chiron, who arrived on scene shortly after, that the hunters would be staying in Artemis' cabin for a while, that she could start to relax.

Cabin eight was a magnificent sight, made out of silver which gleamed in the light and decorated with the paintings and carvings of wild animals. From the inside it looked like one would imagine the home of a prospering big game hunter to look like. Where the cabin's outside was a shiny silver the inside instead was made of wood and full of earthen colours. Hunting trophies, like hell hound fur and the toothed head of what seemed to be a large dragon, gave the cabin a lived-in feel while telling of the residents skill along with a large fireplace spreading warmth and light. From the main room was two doorways, one containing a small hallway leading to the dormitories where the hunters would sleep when they made their, usually short-lived, stays in camp, while the other door held a large bathing area which the hunt always made sure to enjoy and take advantage of on their stays.

Just as she had started to settle down after receiving her new clothing, consisting of a second set of the hunters uniform and some summer clothes, and being assigned a place to sleep however, a knock on the door interrupted the entire hunt as they were preparing the cabin for their stay.

The tall redheaded hunter, Phoebe, who quickly opened the cabin's door quickly demanded in an rude tone – "What do you want?"

There came an answer from beyond the threshold and then Phoebe turned, looking right at her. - "Chiron and Dionysus want to see you."

Aurelia sighed, closing her eyes briefly, and then stood, she had expected to be summoned sooner or later, preferably later, but that didn't change that she had no idea what to do or say when facing the two ancient beings.

_Thank the gods for Zoë – _Were her thoughts when said girl appeared in the door leading to the dormitory with blazing eyes, quickly saying she would accompany her and handle the speaking.

Zoë was a beautiful girl with long black hair and obsidian eyes, she looked to be around fourteen but was from what she heard well over a millenium old. She held an aura of authority around herself like a cloak, an aura of confidence coming from living to an old age and experience.

As they stepped outside she was surprised by the level of sheer hostility she was facing coming from the campers. Before they had only disliked her for being a hunter, now however it was pure hate she saw burning in their gazes. Apparently the knowledge of her heritage had came to the campers attention.

The whole way leading to the "Big House", a rather large blue building, she felt their gazes on her back and was forced to hear the mutterings of how she 'should be imprisoned' or 'never should have been allowed to enter camp'. And those were the tame ones, at least in comparison, with one red eyed burly teenager even demanding she should be killed.

She had known that she wouldn't find any friends here after hearing warnings from Pan and Artemis, the hunters she had spoken to had been clear as well. She was just glad that the hunt had been so welcoming, the hunters treating her kindly and helping her when they could.

In front of the Big House there even was a small but rowdy crowd which quickly parted on seeing Zoë angry face striding towards them. Aurelia wasn't hurt by the camps reaction to her, she had expected it after all. The first thing she noticed as they entered the large house, standing at the head of the large table taking up most of the space inside, was a rather pudgy fat man wearing a hat and a centaur standing at attention.

"Ah, hello I'm sorry to interrupt your evening but we have just a few questions for you." – The centaur, Chiron, spoke while eying her up and down critically.

Before anyone could say anything else Zoë quickly started – "There shouldn't be any questions to be asked. My Lady already knows all about Aurelia and what she is, haven't your campers mentioned that? If Artemis is convinced of the good of character that should be good enough for you."

If the angry voice and her furious expression were anything to go by Aurelia would say that the campers behaviour had brought out the 'mother bear' in her.

"It's nothing like that but we ..." - Chiron didn't get any further before he was once again interrupted.

"What is this all about? Are you two questioning Lady Artemis' judgement?"

At that there was a short pause of silence, Chiron looking for a good way to formulate an answer and Mr. D, as Dionysus was called, looking on in a disinterested manner.

"Zoë, look, no ones questioning Lady Artemis. But I must know if she is a threat to any of my campers."

_How is that not questioning Artemis?_ \- Aurelia thought to herself but didn't say anything deciding it would be best to let Zoë handle things, she had far more experience with situations like these.

"You mean the same campers forming a mob and demanding that Aurelia should be killed? The same campers standing right out there? Those campers?" - Zoë was on fire. Not bending a single millimetre. - "I don't think Aurelia is the threat here, thou precious campers are!"

And with that they were done, not much else could be said. Chiron even apologised for the camps behaviour towards her and the whole hunt. Dionysus muttering something about 'always having trouble with the campers'.

It was amazing how Zoë could just come in and overtake the whole situation, though she had the feeling it might not have been that easy if "Mr. D" wasn't so desinterested in the campers health or things in general.

Chiron dissolved the crowd as soon as they were done talking, all the while looking rather upset at seeing his wards doing such a thing.

...

"It's always the same. They are always looking for any reason to start fights with us. Those campers are nothing but hypocrites. " - After returning to cabin eight Zoë took her aside to speak with her, although it quickly turned into more of a rant about the camp.

After letting off steam with her venting and about males and the camp, Zoë and Aurelia both found themselves in a deep conversation with eachother.

Both quickly discovered they had many things in common and how similar they were to each other. Zoë and Aurelia were both looked down on as threats and lesser beings by campers because of their heritage, Zoë as a Titan spawn and Aurelia as a Monster's, they had both sworn allegiance to Artemis who was the only reason they were treated as well as they were, as it could have been a lot worse, they had also found a home and a place to belong in the hunt.

That night while they were laying in their beds they both treasured the feeling of having made a new friend today, someone to share the good and the bad with. They both fell asleep with a small smile on it faces.

Tomorrow, after breakfast, training would begin.

...

Breakfast with the hunters was an interesting affair. Sitting together at the Artemis table exchanging the tales of past hunts and encouraging her to be a part of the group by asking questions about herself. It was great fun to be feel so integrated and a part of such a close kitted group. The other new hunter Bianca Di Angelo too was a nice person. She rather strangely looked pale despite her tanned skin, although her shiny black hair didn't help with that much.

After offering a large portion of her food to Artemis for taking her in, she noticed Zoë's far away look it wasn't there as they bid each other a good night the day before. Asking her about 'what was wrong' she only got a distracted 'nothing' as an answer, so she let it drop, her friend would tell her when she was ready.

After breakfast, it was announced that there was going to be a special "Capture the Flag" game, with the hunters against the campers, so the hunters quickly left to prepare. All were eager to see how the two newbies would do.

As it turned out Bianca was pretty good with a bow even if a decent part of it was because of Artemis' blessing endowing better Archery skills, and what she lacked in experience and technique she could compensate, at least mostly, through the improved strength and agility granted the other benefits of the blessing. Though since they didn't know who her Godly Parent was, they sadly couldn't train in that field.

Aurelia was another story, while she wasn't bad with a bow she wasn't particularly good either, by hunter standards at least. However in close quarter combat she plain dominated her fights. Her claws and staff combined with her own impressive strength and speed with was additionally boosted by Artemis blessing, gave her an incomprehensible advantage over the knife wielding hunters. Her intense training with Pan also helping out.

It showed that they were different kinds of hunters.

Artemis and her handmaidens epitomising the human variant, moving in the woods, stalking their prey, chasing it over long distances, following traces before striking from a safe distance and capitalizing on surprise and speed.

Aurelia on the other hand was a similar but yet different sort of hunter, a more wild and bestial variant, she too stalked her prey but she depended on her advanced body and senses to track then surprised her prey by attacking and pouncing from the shadows using her entire body, with her strong skin and natural weapons giving her the protection to fight most of her enemies head on.

Nevertheless the hunters, especially Zoë, were ecstatic, already planning on how to use her against the demigods in todays game. Not only was she already trained but also opening up a multitude of new ways to fight and eventually hunt.

...

The plan was relatively simple. While Zoë would lead the largest part of the hunters into enemy territory, she and two other hunters, one of them Bianca, would guard their flag.

Aurelia was placed in a bush near the flag to ambush anyone stupid enaough to try and get it. Bianca and the other hunter, Silvia, were in two trees opposite to each other ready to give her back up if needed and also support her from afar with their bows.

The rest, meaning those not in Zoe's attack group or with Aurelia, would form a loose ring surrounding the clearing and ward the flag defenders from the bulk of the campers attack.

...

Soon after the hunters left the sounds of battle were heard resounding through the woods.

It was about fifteen minutes into the game when Aurelia began to heard footsteps approaching, after a few seconds she knew that the incoming attackers were enemies were when she didn't hear the agreed upon signal of an eagle owl bird call, that they would use to indicate that their incoming group was friendly.

Knowing she had better senses than the rest of her group of defenders she quickly imitated the sharp cry of a hawk to inform her two companions to get ready and that they had enemies approaching.

Not even a full minute later Thalia and two other campers entered the clearing where the hunters flag was stationed in.

Aurelia had seen the daughter of Zeus fighting before and had decided that she would be a formidable opponent when using her spear and shield to their fullest potential while her powers over lightning would gave her a strong edge while fighting in close quarters.

She quickly prepared herself to launch an attack as soon as Thalia was in range in hopes of surprising her and potentially taking her down too fast for her to react to, if that didn't work she would try to overwhelm her by with her enhanced body and if she needed to then her magic although she hoped she wouldn't have to show that yet, but it was something she could use to contest Thalia's lightning.

...

Thalia's POV

Advancing on the flag Thalia felt like she was watched as the hairs on the back of her neck stood up, which considering her enemies, was most likely the case.

She activated her shield and her spear before quickly signalling the two children of Ares to be ready.

Only a few short feet divided her and the flag as sudden movement from the corner of her eyes caught her attention.

She got her shield up the last second before the end of a staff could collide with her head. She was momentarily surprised by a staff wielder for from what she knew the hunters didn't use them. Stepping out of range of the weapon she lowered her shield coming eye to eye with the 'monster spawn' as the other campers called her, Aurelia Potter. She personally had no problem with the half monster, beside her being a hunter. But this was nothing personal this was business and she would do everything she could to prove herself as the more skilled fighter.

Charging she thrust her spear at the low crouching girl in front of her and was surprised by the speed Aurelia displayed in dodging the attack.

The girl was far faster than the other hunters she had seen, and from the hits she blocked with her shield she gathered that she also was a lot stronger.

With such high strength and speed against her Thalia knew to take her opponent seriously, immediately charging her weapon with electricity.

...

Aurelia's POV

With Thalia beginning to use lightning the fight just got serious and Aurelia could feel it.

Around them, both the campers Thalia brought with her and the hunters who stayed to protect the flag, had already engaged in battle.

As the fight continued it quickly became clear that Aurelia would win the fight sooner or later with her advanced body, and would have already if it weren't for Thalia's control over lightning.

Aurelia decided to end the fight now as the last lightning attack had taken her by surprise and come close to hitting her if she had not swiftly gotten out of the way. She had not used her magic during the fight up until now. She originally wanted to keep it a secret but she didn't want to lose now after such an exciting battle, she wanted to bring the win for the hunt that had taken her in and treated her so kindly and she was like one of them.

Using her staff, which was a more defensive weapon than a spear, to gain a bit of ground by swinging it in a wide circle, she quickly gathered her magic and spoke simultaneously with slamming her staff to the ground in a loud voice – "_**incrementum gramen**_"

Immediately the grass on the ground started to grow and crawled up the campers legs binding their legs together before they could react. Thalia looked at her in utter shock from the ground, she was so stunned that she didn't know what to do and was soon bound to the ground by grass of all things.

...

After formally taking the campers as prisoners it wasn't long until they heard the cheering from the other hunters. With their win and the game over, they released their prisoners and started to walk in the rivers direction.

...

Percy's POV

Percy's day had gone badly so far and it looked to him like that was going continue, the previous night he had dreamed of Annabeth being tricked by Luke into holding the sky, Mr D still refused to send a quest to rescue her. The atmosphere Camp was not at all like he remembered it from his previous summers here. Not only did the hunters stay complicate things, the half monster caused unintended problems. He noticed that many of the other Demigods took offence at her very presence even if she was just walking by, they took just having her in the camp as an insult. And now they had this friendly capture the flag game.

The game had only just started and he just knew it wouldn't go well for them.

Thalia had taken command and planned how they should go to win this and naturally every camper followed Zeus' daughter.

He was to protect their flag while Thalia would go for the hunter's taking the long way around while Silena would lead a decoy attack taking a shorter way, but he just knew that if he were the one to go for the flag instead of Thalia they would win, he just knew it.

So when he was guarding the flag together with the Stoll brothers and saw an opening he was more than tempted to take the chance and go for it and he would have if it weren't for the surprise attack from a few hunters who must have seen the opening and thought they would take the chance too.

In the resulting unprepared battle they had to face a bitter defeat, Connor even ending the fight with two arrows lodged in his helmet. It ended as suddenly as it had begun as Zoë who lead the hunters jumped over the creek holding the camp's flag, causing the hunters to start cheering.

Not five minutes later a red faced Thalia came stamping in his face and started screaming at him about doing a horrible job at guarding the flag. Mentioning that he didn't saw a flag in her hand either was maybe not the best idea, he would admit that, but that gave her no right to shock him with her lightning before throwing him back into the water...

...

Aurelia's POV

Watching Percy and Thalia scream at each other was like watching little kids fight over who was to be blamed for breaking a toy, only these kids had super powers like heaving an entire creek into the air in their anger. The towering water was an impressive sight, one showcasing the true power of a child of the big three. Luckily for everyone around them the water quickly withdrew when Percy stopped and stared at something approaching from the direction of the camp.

Turning to follow Percy's stunned line of sight Aurelia quickly determined what had caused Percy to stop his attack. If she didn't know better she would say a zombie was on the loose.

The walking dead woman stopped right in front of Zoë, every word she spoke resulting in green smoke coming out of her mouth. - "_**I am the spirit of Delphi, speaker of the prophecies of Phoebus Apollo, slayer of the mighty Python. Approach seeker, and ask**__."_

All eyes had turned to the two of them, everyone in earshot quickly dropping what they were doing before to witness the scene.

Zoë stepped forward and said – "How can I save My Lady Artemis?"

"_**Six shall go west to the goddess in chains,**_

_**One shall be lost in the land without rain,**_

_**The bane of Olympus shows the trail,**_

_**Campers and Hunters combined prevail,**_

_**The Titan's curse must one withstand, **_

_**One will only survive by a silver hand,**_

_**And one shall perish by a parent's hand."**_

_Well that wasn't cryptical at all was it – _Aurelia thought.

...

**So how was it?**


	5. Quest's-Up

**So here is Chapter Five I hope you enjoy reading it.**

**Also 'Thank You' to all of you for reading and of course a special thanks those of you that have reviewed :)**

**Disclaimer: I own nothing. J.K. Rowling and Rick Riordan do.**

Aurelia' POV

Standing behind Zoë who was currently sitting at the council's table, which was oddly a ping pong table, Aurelia looked around the room.

Mr. D and Chiron, in his wheelchair this time, sat at one end of the table. Zoe meanwhile took the other end with Aurelia. Thalia, Grover and Percy sat along the right side and the other head councilors, Beckendorf, son of Hephaestus, Silena Beauregard, daughter of Aphrodite and the Stoll brothers, sons of Hermes, sat on the left. The Ares cabin was also supposed to send a representative too, but all of them had suffered rather serious injuries during capture the flag game courtesy of the Hunters. They were currently resting up in the infirmary.

Zoë, who was currently resisting the immense pressure to leave immediately to aid her Lady and didn't see the point in useless meetings said impatiently – "This is pointless. There is no time to talk. The Hunters must leave immediatly."

"And go where?" Chiron pointedly asked, quick to remind them of the more then criptical directions provided inside the prophecy.

Thalia too was quick to make her argument - "You're missing something, as usual, _**Campers and Hunters combined prevail.**_ We're supposed to do this together."

"We're Hunters we don't need the help of campers, and definitely not the male ones." - Zoë said though with less intensity then before, it was obvious that she was beginning to accept that following the prophecy was the best way to retrieve her Lady safely that she had at the moment, although she was still very much against the idea.

"I fear the prophecy says otherwise. Hunters and Campers must cooperate in this." - Chiron was quick to reply. - "You have less than a week time to fullfill your quest. On December the twenty-first, is the Winter Solice Meeting."

It was more than important that Artemis was part of this meeting, she was the most vocal supporter for taking action in the upcomming war, without her vote they would lose another year of war preparations, Zoë had told her before the meeting that this couldn't come at a worse time although she was obviously loathed to think that it had ever happened at all.

Aurelia couldn't care less about some war, all she cared for was the family she found in the hunters, certainly not some campers or gods she never met, she would do her best to help where she could, but for her it was only the case of Artemis being the goddess missing and in need that made her care enough to help.

"... Now we must decide who shall go on the quest." - _I should pay more attention that's for sure – _She thought to herself, shaking her head, getting pulled out of her thoughts as the centaur finished his summary of the importance of the quest's success.

Soon it was decided, after what seemed to be a bargain contest between Zoë and the rest of the attending, that three hunters and three campers should go.

"Who could be the _**"Bane of Olympus"**_? Any idea?" - Percy asked.

After a short silence it was Thalia who answered – "Maybe it's her father I mean ...well Artemis said that her father is a big threat just before she left, didn't she." - She said that while pointing at Aurelia.

Following this words Aurelia felt the gazes of every single demigod quick shift to her and looking up she saw in their eyes the innate suspicion every demigod was born with regarding what their instincts deemed a threat.

"Lady Artemis also said that it was _not_ the Nemean lion she was tracking"- Zoë spoke with fiery eyes seeing how the room's occupants had started to focus on Aurelia.

Percy again asked a question - "Chiron don't you have an idea about what this monster could be?"

What followed was a long speech by Chiron telling them that he had no idea what the monster was but he was sure that it must be pretty dangerous and deadly.

_He does have a way with words for boosting the groups moral, doesn't he? – _Aurelia thought after hearing the centaur out.

Now that Chiron broke the proverbial wall the rest of the campers also started to give in their two cents.

Beckendorf the burly Hephaestus kid pointed out that the quester should be sure to avoid deserts referring to the "_**One**_ _**shall be lost in the land without rain**_" – line. The line "_**The Titan's curse must one withstand**_" however caused confusion with the campers, albeit Aurelia saw Chiron and Zoë quickly exchange anxious glances and made a note to make sure to speak with her friend about what clearly had them worried.

"_**One shall perish by a parents hand, **_whose parents would do such a thing to their own child " - The satyr Grover said. This line was the clearest of all of the them all, it was a clear indicator of what they should expect to lay ahead of them on the quest.

"Before we go any further we need to decide who will be going in the Quest. Zoë which hunters do you choose?" - Chiron interrupted any further attempts to analyse the prophecy.

"Obivously I will go myself. Aurelia Potter and Bianca Di Angelo shall accompany me." - She stated in a clear voice veritably ringing with strength, daring those around her to argue her choices. That was another thing she would have to speak with Zoë about, why would she choose two unexperienced hunters over the veterans? Phoebe quickly came to mind.

"And which of the campers will you take with you?"

That was obviously the cue Grover had been waiting for - "Me, take me, anything for the Lady Artemis!"

After a small pause and a few short minutes of arguing it was quickly decided that he could come along with the quest, not least because of Aurelia's backing knowing the worth of a satyr and having recently being reminded of it.

"I'll go too" – Thalia spoke up. There was no aguring.

"So who will be the last member?" - Chiron asked.

"I want to go" – Percy said.

"Oh no, I will not have a male travelling with the Hunters. Choose another one, a female one." - Zoë vehemently rejecting the boy's insistance.

A few minutes later however, it quickly became clear that there was no other choice. No one else wanted to go on a quest where at least two people were going to die, with another at risk enough to be warned by the fates, and a titan's curse didn't sound too tempting either.

So it was, though reluctantly in some cases, decided that Percy could come along for the quest.

...

That night she had a rather strange dream, she had been told they were normal for demigods, apparently demimonsters had them too.

She found herself on top of a mountain surrounded on all sides by the Ruins of a massive City. She stood in what once must have once been a throne room and in front of her she saw Artemis on one knee with her hands and shoulders holding a great invisible weight. She went to move closer but before she could do anything a man she hadn't seen suddenly walked right through her, staggering her severing the connection sending her reeling back to her sleeping body.

She immediately shot upright in her bed gasping for air. Looking around she quickly calmed seeing all the other hunters sleeping and relaxed beginning to lean back, but stopping just as she was about to try to go back to sleep when her gaze landed on Zoë's empty bed. Feeling slightly worried she knew that as a friend she had to look for Zoë so, sighing, she rose from her own bed and quickly stepped out of the dormitory into the main room. Thankfully spotting Zoë almost immediately as she sat silently while looking into the fire place.

"You should be sleeping, you know. We have to be at our best for Lady Artemis and we're leaving early tomorrow" - Her quiet but close voice startled Zoë, who jumped almost a foot in the air in her shock.

"I could say the same. It's not like you won't come with me." - Zoë spoke to her laughing friend giving her an unimpressed look.

"About that why did you choose Bianca and me? Why not Phoebe or one of the other veterans?"

Her question was met with silence, until. - "I have a feeling that it has to be you and Bianca. Besides I trust you and I have seen you fight, you definitely pull your weight and more. As for Bianca, I think she could benefit from the experience. Is that all?"

"I also wanted to ask you about your reaction to the _**The Titan's curse must one withstand - **_line."

"I rather not talk about that. Maybe later it is not important now."

With that the conversation was at an end. Zoë quickly leaving the room before Aurelia could say anymore. Deep inside she knew she had to wait before confronting Zoë again, she could tell that she wasn't ready at the moment.

...

It was the next morning at about seven am when they were scheduled to depart from camp that the first problem quickly became apparent, there was no Percy. He hadn't come to the agreed upon meeting place at Half-Blood hill and when checked, was neither in his cabin or at the Big House.

For Zoë that was just further proof how cowardly boys, and the male gender in general, were.

So without further delay the questing group quickly entered the van where Argus, the camps security chief, was supposed to be to drive them, when he too wasn't there however Zoë quickly sat herself behind the wheel saying she would drive.

Aurelia personally had no problem with that and if the others did they certainly never voiced them.

It was already midday when they pulled up at a rest stop in Maryland. After taking a short break there and the group buying some drinks and snacks from the quest money she was also able to see Grover work his tracking spell, which with her knowledge of Nature Magic from the God of the Wild himself, she saw that he did to an acceptable standard, he really should have more confidence in his skill.

The tracking spell's results pointed them to D.C.. When she went to get back into the Van however Aurelia couldn't help but stop at the front, when she could, for some strange reason, smell horse. Which was rather strange considering that there were no horses around as far as she could tell. After quickly using her senses to search around some more she shrugged, though made a note of it, it wasn't that big of a deal after all, nor was it her problem.

It was only during the drive to D.C. however that she spotted a black point in the grey skys following their van.

...

It was a while later that they arrived in Washington D.C.. After parking their white camp van not far from the Washington Monument, Grover then led them through the streets all the while pointing at a large building, The National Air And Space Museum.

Once he entered the museum however Grover seemed to quickly lose the trace he had been following and started to walk aimlessly through the halls. It was about then when she lost the group.

She was walking into a hall which seemed to be a replica of the solar system. It was large and dark with huge planets hanging from the ceiling.

No one was around, or so she thought, when she arrived in the middle of the room.

It was here that she felt it, a presence she hadn't felt since before her training with Pan. She had felt the same presence many times before, lurking in her mind, only this time it was so much greater, it was overwhelming and it was close!

Aurelia quickly looked around herself, stretching out all her senses, she couldn't see, hear or smell anything unusual, but her instincts were screaming at her!

"Look who we have here" – A deep voice sounded from behind her, causing all the hairs on her neck to stand up.

She slowly turned in the voice's direction only to see darkness. "You still have so much to learn little one." - The voice was heard again, this time to her right.

She quickly turned but again there was only darkness staring back at her, it seemed that even just facing the owner of the voice was more difficult than that.

"Look at you, you look so much like your mother it's unbelieveable." - Coming from her left.

"Who are you?" - Aurelia asked, with all the force she could muster, although she already had an idea of who it could be.

"Oh! So much power in you! So much confidence! You could be so great if only you would come with me, I can teach you things no one else can. It's what fathers do after all."

It was one thing to have your suspicions and another to have them confirmed. She had a father right here, she had family that wanted her but still she felt something was off.

"What do you want from me? Why am I only seeing you now? Where were you, when I needed you?!" – The questions just came out of her, it were questions she had asked herself so many times, since she discovered that her father was still alive from Pan, she needed those answeres.

"What do you mean with 'needed me'? You were safe with your mother and _James._" – This time the voice was right in front of her, she was startled as a lion face seemed to materialise just in front of her eyes, out of the shadows emerged the largest lion she, or anyone else for that matter, had ever seen.

The way he said 'James' suggested that he wasn't found of him who ever that was.

"I didn't live with my mother and who is James?" - She answered to his question.

Ther was silence beteween them, the only sound being made by his mighty flanks as he came closer to her. - "There is so much we have to talk about." - There was curiosity in his voice – "Imagine the new life I can give you. A place to belong, a true family. Not like those Hunters. But before that you must help me. I know that you joned the hunters and arrived here with a quest. You must help me defeat them. They will not expect your betrayal. After that we can talk and I can teach you everything you need to know. We can live together as it should have been from the beginning."

Quickly ice-cold fear for her quest mates, most of it was concentrated on Zoë and Bianca, grew in her heart, here she was finding a father and then having to choose. But it wasn't a difficult decision, three years ago she would have jumped on the chance of being with her father but now she had the Hunters as a family.

"I will not help you."

"And why is that? Do you believe yourself to be human? I can tell you that you're most certainly not a human."

"I know that I am not human but neither am I a monster" - Aurelia spoke.

The lion seemed to find that a rather funny thing to say if his laughter, which sounded like rolling stones, was anything to go by. - "Not a monster? Oh that's precious." - As his laughter slowly came to a stop his voice turned to steel. - "I can smell the blood on your hands, human blood if I am not mistaken."

The lion started to circle her again as he spoke – "Don't you remember how good it felt to sink your claws in warm flesh? The feeling as the blood painted your face red?"

And she did remember, at his words realising that her face must have betrayed her. - "Ah that look, the inner predator in us which excites us and makes us relish the hunt and the kill."

With every word out of the lion's fanged snout she felt her mind go darker. She felt her previously merged mind beginning to divide itself and split apart. She could feel herself surrendering to her darker urges, quickly an image of Pan, the one who taught, raised her, flashed before her inner eyes in an attempt at helping her to muster her willpower to fight but it wasn't enough, Zoë's face flashed by as well but it just wasn't enough.

Just as she was about to be overtaken by her other half, she saw a pair of familiar silver eyes appear in front of her giving her, a boost of strength flooded through her veins that she wouldn't have thought possible, easily overpowering her inner predator. It were Artemis's eyes, the same powerful, shining silver pools.

"... It's the thrill of the hunt you seek. It's only natural for us at the top of the chain. The way nature takes its course."

"I'm not a monster." – She repeated through bared and gritted teeth.

That seemed to surprise the lion, as he had felt her human half being overtaken by her inner predator. - "So you choose to be prey instead? I will not have any of my children be prey. You will come with me even if I have to carry you back."

Aurelia yelled losing herself in her rapidly rising anger. - "I am not _prey_!"

"Then you shouldn't behave like it." - He said with angered his own saturating his voice. - "I see those hunters have messed up your mind, it is a wonder you are still alive, that they didn't kill you on first sight. They must have plans for you and I will not let you be used." - With that he lunged for her. Only long hours training combined with natural skill and talent saved her as she instinctively threw herself to the ground.

Coming to her feet again she saw her father already in position to attack again when the doors burst open.

Entering first was Bianca, bow at the ready, with Thalia, her hideous shield and spear drawn and Percy with a celestial bronze sword in hand following quickly on her heels. The question of where Zoë answered itself a second later when a silver arrow flew out of the dark striking the lion straight on but dealing no damage in the slightest. Aurelia could only think that she had somehow managed to enter with out being discovered although that quickly lead Aurelia to the new question of then how much has Zoë had seen as she hid.

It was when she, Thalia and Percy stood in a loose half circle in front of the lion with Zoë and Bianca behind them aiming their bows that she realised something.

She was about to fight her own father, a monster Artemis Goddess of the Hunt had described as being even a match for minor gods and there was no way to stop it...

...

Artemis' POV

Her whole body was on fire. But even with the weight of the Sky that was bearing down on her she couldn't help but think that it would be so much more bearable if it wasn't for Atlas. The amount of hate that she held for that Titan could no longer be measured. If she could be rid of him she would gladly bear double the weight of the sky but the Titan just had to be here!

As time passed she felt her body scream as her muscles were continually ripped over and over again before vigorously healing themselves. To say it was painful would be the understatement of the millenium. Still all she could think about were her Hunters how they were doing and what would become of them if she was held here for any longer.

Now and then she saw demigod spirits appear, the spirit of Poseidon's son and of Zoë were the first but near the end of the night she believed she saw the golden-blond hair of her newest hunter.

Every time the pain began to get the better of her, and became too much, as she began to feel her will start to fade she was faced again by a pair of beautiful orange eyes in her mind's eye giving her the power to continue and hold on.

Those eyes were one of a kind, even through all her millennia of life she had only ever seen those eyes on one person.

_... Aurelia..._

_..._

**So what do you think?**


	6. Family Bonds

**There are a few thing I have to say before the Chapter starts.**

**\- First I'm sorry for the long wait but with easter and such it took a bit longer.**

**\- Second and most importantly Leez, who was my Beta, is now Co-writer.**

**\- And third Chapter one has been edited.**

**So that was it from my side. I can't thank you often enough for reading and reviewing.**

**Disclaimer: I own nothing. J.K. Rowling and Rick Riordan do.**

Aurelia's POV

Fighting an invulnerable opponent quickly proved to be even more difficult than it sounded and considering that it didn't sound easy in the slightest degree to begin with one could easily imagine how horrifically dangerous and difficult a fight like that would be to those involved.

And a fight like that was exactly the sort of danger the group of demi-beings faced, in form of the mighty Nemean lion staring down at them with his massive yellow primeval eyes.

The eerie silence which had laid itself over the soon to be battleground was shattered by the lion's deafening roar as he suddenly in one fluid and quick movement lunged for the demigods as they just finished settling into a loose half circle formation in front of him.

Only Percy's inherent battle reflexes saved him from being brutally mauled by the beast's powerful jaws and claws as he barely managed to succeed in a swift dodge to the right leading him out of the attacks path.

Swiftly spotting the opportunity Thalia and Aurelia both used the short moment it took for the lion to turn and attack again to swing with all their might in an attempt to engage the lion in hopes to keep him away from the two archers of their group long enough for them to land a killing blow. They soon were joined by a sword swinging Percy who had regained his footing after swiftly climbing to his feet and charging straight back into the fight.

As the fighting proceeded and intensified it quickly became clear that Artemis' warnings were more than justified. The Nemean Lion was not only as large as the van that they arrived in, but was also blindingly swift and fast in a way no one would expect of a beast this large.

Dodging another swing of her father's claws Aurelia couldn't help but notice how the Lions strikes and attacks against her were slightly weaker and slower than his furious and unforgiving attack against the demigods, it quickly dawned on her that he was holding back against her but that didn't mean she would too.

"We have to make it roar again!" - Came the shout of Percy from beside her.

"'It' can understand you seaspawn." – The comment seemed to have angered her father as he paused to look sneering straight into Percy's eyes with his own primal orbs blazing with power.

Percy froze looking baffled on hearing the deep voice coming from the lion's snout and looked back at the angry gaze fixated on him. - "Oh... sorry."

As the battle continued it became painfully clear to the Questers that they were way in over their heads. Not only was their opponent far more experienced than them by far, he was also immune against all their attacks, everything they had hit him with so far hadn't done the slightest amount of damage to the beast. While with the constant dodging and weaving of the lions attacks their energy quickly drained faster and with increasing intensity.

Without a genius idea or some sort of miracle, they were definitely done for and both the Questers and the Lion knew that as clear as day.

"Why do you continue to fight when there is no point? Just let nature take it's path and give in to your fate. There's nothing you can do." - Chuckled the lion amused while knowing that they wouldn't surrender.

"Your tricks have proven to be nothing but child's play. I would have thought better from my own daughter but that sort of behaviour will be corrected after she comes with me."

About five minutes into the fight they had tried out a trick Percy came up with including astronaut food which only resulted in being laughed at by their enemy and a bare dodge by Thalia. After that disaster everyone seemed to have come to a non verbal understanding not to listen to any more of Percy's harebrained ideas... at least for the duration of this fight.

"If you won't co-operate then I will finish this now!" - With that he tightened his muscles swiftly crouching low before making a mighty bound over the defending demigods aimed directly at Zoë, who had stoped momentarily in shock at the move's surprising display of pure power.

Time seemed to stand still for Aurelia as she was forced to watch what would certainly be her best friend's death... And it would have been if it wasn't for the swiftness of Bianca who managed to shove Zoë out of harms way just before the beast's body could collide with its prey. In the process however she had put herself in the way and was now the target of the lion's proud jaws.

Watching on in horror the campers froze, Aurelia herself was numb with fear for her sister in arms though this fear quickly turned in blinding speed to a raging anger which she used with all her might to fuel her magic to avenge her fallen sister.

It was this moment when just before the attack could connect with Bianca that the earth shook and the ground in front of the scared hunter ripped open and rapidly grew into a protective wall of dark stone shielding the demigoddess from the attack which she was certain was going to take her life.

The lion unable to stop in his mighty flight in the air heavily bounced striking the new massive barrier with an earshattering loud impact.

Nemean Lion's POV

Still fuzzy and dazed from the unplanned impact the Nemean shook his head – _'Who the fuck put a wall right there?! It so does not work with the rest of the room...'_

He could feel his left paw had broken from the pain and at least three rips had been fractured on the same side from when he had tried to shift body to protect his head. Shaking his head to clear it and coming back to his feet, he took a quick but sure look around in order to orient himself and get his bearings, that was when his eyes fell on a beautiful blond girl with a furious snarl on her face staring straight at him with haunting orange colored eyes. It was his daughter. It was in this moment he realised how alike she and her mother were when they both were angry.

He quickly began to feel a strangely familiar feeling as it filled the air that he hadn't felt in years, one he quickly identified as the feeling of mortal magic gathering. _So young and so powerful – _Were his thoughts as he looked at her seeing the woman he loved in his daughter. That was when the magic started to shape and realising what was about to happen he decided to stay in place and let it strike.

He felt the magic complete and then suddenly a great pain smashed in his right side and he was catapulted through the air as the wall he had just struck was turned and used as a missile and slammed into his, thankfully, previously unhurt right flank with crushing force.

He came to a sudden halt at the rooms door as his flying body ripped it out of it's fixture, shattering it into pieces and sending clouds of debris all around. This time as he regained his bearing he knew that this battle was lost - _and that is a good thing._

Standing on his feet was a task in itself. With a last look to his daughter he turned around and fled.

_... 'There are things I have to think about...'_

_..._

Aurelia's POV

As she saw the lion escape Aurelia was bent over panting, she couldn't chase after him, after using so much raw magic to lift the earthen wall and send it flying with such force so quickly and having to fight such a long battle she was exhausted, she didn't particularly want to chase him anyway. Right now she stood beside a pale faced Bianca who was still on the ground looking rather shaken after her near death experince.

"It's okay, he's gone" – She said softly to Bianca in a low and soothing voice.

"How... how... did I do that?" - Bianca asked, shaken from her first real battle and the demanding use of her power as a demigod.

"It would seem that thy godly parent has a connection to earth and a strong one at that seeing as what thou have done was nothing short of astounding." - Zoë spoke as she joined Aurelia and Bianca. - "Do not worry, with time your power will become easier and your control will increase."

"We have to get out of here," - Grover said interrupting them as he came out of hiding. - "The security guards will soon be here."

As they fled the museum she could feel Grover's gaze in her back focusing on her while telling Percy how he used his woodland magic to confuse the guards.

"There is enough time to talk later, now we have to escape." - The boys were sharply interrupted by Thalia as she trailed closely behind them, shutting them up for now in fear of get snapped at.

...

It seemed the designated time of "later" was exactly when they were inside the van again although this time Percy was here.

Zoë started with a commanding voice - "Percy tell Aurelia what you have seen."

"I think it would be best if I tell you from the beginning..." - Percy said as he began his story up to the moment he encountered the Questers sans Aurelia.

It was a pretty amazing story she would give him that. He had saved some sort of marine cow creature in the early morning only to find the quest had left without him. He then followed the quest on a black Pegasus – '_that must have been black spot I saw earlier today'_ – to D.C.. After arriving in the city and seeing the abandoned van he spotted and followed Mr. Thorn, the manticore she had seen before when she met Artemis, who he spotted walking down a street not far from the van. It was then that Percy's story became interesting for the quest. As he followed the manticore using a cap he had which could turn the wearer invisible he overheard a conversation between "the General", making Zoë cringe and some boy called Luke. Apparently this General had summoned some sort of zombie warriors.

The rest of his story was him fleeing after being detected and then he encountered the quest.

"Does anyone has to say or ask something else?" - Zoë asked from the driver seat quickly getting positive reactions from the others, it was obvious that they all had quite a few questions they wanted answers too.

The first was Grover who rushed out looking straight at her with needing eyes. - "I have a question for Aurelia if you don't mind." - He gushed out swiftly and nervously.

Seeing her shake her head he continued. - "What sort of magic was it that you used at the end of the fight, where did you learn it?" - He spoke in a fast voice.

That question put her in a tight spot. She didn't want to betray Pan's trust by telling someone about him and most likely condemn many satyrs to an early death by entering the Labyrinth but she also had to answer something...

"It was Nature magic." - She answered leaving the part of where she had learned it out.

"Nature magic?" - the satyr inquiered confused.

Deciding to give him a bit Aurelia started to explain. - "You know woodland magic? The magic satyrs use and are taught in?" - waiting for him to nod she continued – "It's a part of Nature magic. Nature magic is the manipulation of life and the various factors it needs to develop like earth and air."

While not necessarily statisfying Grover's thirst to learn more and to ask more of her he didn't push her further seeing that she was obviously not comfortable with his question. It also helped having her glare at him in a manner he last saw just under twenty minutes earlier from the lion.

Percy however didn't seemed to have the same survival instincts Grover possessed and still pressed on. - "What about who taught you?"

"I don't want to speak about it."

That got Thalia going - "And how should we know if we can trust you if you won't even answer simple questions?"

"How about this; I Aurelia Potter, daughter of the Nemean lion, swear by the river Styx that I am loyal to the hunt and Lady Artemis. Furthermore I swear that I will do what is asked of me to ensure this quest succeeds." - Following her words there was a rumbling of thunder which sealed the binding oath.

"So I think that was enough of questioning Aurelia" - Zoë cut in sharply in full mother bear mode ending any arguments in that direction.

But that didn't stop the van's occupants as their focus turned to Bianca. - "So who do you think could be your father?"

"I don't know...?" - Came the quiet and unsure reply from the Hunter.

"Well we know it has to be something with earth. Which gods have a connection to earth?" - Percy reflected.

"I would normally suggest possibly Demeter or Persephone but we already know that it's the father..." – Thalia trailed off in thought as she got involved in the discussion.

"Maybe Hephaestus?" - Percy said – "I mean he's the God of Volcanoes right?"

"No, it would have been a more fire focused defence for Hephaestus and this kind of power exceeds what his children are capable of." - Zoë answered without a doubt, she had met several of children of Hephaestus through out her long life in the hunt and even saw a few of them use their Earth powers before. Still in her eyes Aurelia could see a hidden suspicion.

...

They spent a few minutes giving ideas but a short time later all conversation quickly stopped when they spotted a helicopter overhead following them. They just had crossed the Potomac, a large river on their way out of D.C.

"They know the van." - Thalia said in realisation as the helicopter continued to follow closely behind them.

"How can the General use mortals." - Asked a bewildered Percy

"They are mercenaries" - Zoë spat bitterly. - "Mortals who will fight for any cause as long as they are paid well enough."

"But how can they work for monsters?! Don't they see what these beasts are?!" - Percy continued to ask.

"I doubt it would matter to people like them even if they knew the truth. Sometimes mortals can be even more horrible than the most of repulsive monsters." - Aurelia said with a long buried pain in her eyes, knowing the truth of her words all to well.

It was again Bianca with the saving idea. She pointed out a parking lot asking Zoë to trust her and turn in which she quickly did. After leaving the van they hurriedly followed Bianca into a subway where the helicopter couldn't see or follow them.

"Good thinking there Bianca." - Came the praise from the Questers.

"I remembered it well because it was new when Nico and I came through and I was surprised because at seeing that because it wasn't here when we lived here."

That statement created confusion with the rest of the group but before any questions could be asked they had to change trains.

...

With no idea where they were after they left the last train they were on but knowing that they had lost the helicopter on their heels awhile ago the Questers looked around. They were now all standing in an abandoned railway stop in some industrial area but not seeing anyone they wandered around through the train yard searching for another train taking passengers or even a place to take shelter for the night.

On their way looking through the train yard Percy dryly managed to summarize their situation very well if one was to ask Aurelia. - "Somewhere far to the west Annabeth is in danger. Artemis is missing and in chains. A doomsday monster is on the loose. And we are stuck on the outskirts of D.C."

After looking around a bit more they noticed a homeless guy standing not too far away. As he looked them over he gave them a toothless grin before waving them over to his trash can fire. - "Y'all need to get warmed up? Come on over!"

"Maybe we should contact camp," - Bianca ventured. - "Chiron—"

"No" - Zoë cut her off. - "They cannot help us anymore. We must finish this quest ourselves."

"You know" - The homeless man started - "you're never completely without friends. You kids need a train going west?" - He asked.

"Yes, sir." - Percy said. - "You know of any?"

He pointed with one of his hands over to the side. Suddenly there was a freight train, gleaming and free of the snow which lay everywhere else in thick layers on the rail yard. It was a train to transport cars. On the side of the train was in bright yellow letters written SUN WEST LINE.

"That's... awfully convenient" - Thalia said. - "Thanks, uh..."

As they turned to the homeless guy again to thank him they saw that he and his fire were gone leaving not a single trace to be seen.

...

Sitting inside a black BMW on the train Aurelia was soon joined by Zoë sitting herself next to her. - "I wanted to talk to you about somethings I heard when first entering the room where we fought your father." - Her voice didn't have any accusation in it, which made Aurelia question what and how much Zoë had heard.

"Hmm... go on then, ask." - Aurelia said looking away into the night.

"Please look at me when I speak to you." - Zoë's voice was stern but not unkind. Looking back at Zoë eyes she saw no disgust there, at least not yet, so she waited for Zoë to begin.

"As I hid myself in the shadows of in the far corner of the room I heard him say that he could smell human blood on you." - Zoë stated, it was not a question so Aurelia didn't answer vocally, instead giving a curt nod and glancing away. - "Do you want to talk about it?"

Seeing nothing but kindness on her lieutenant's face Aurelia slowly lost her composure and started to talk about what she previously only told three person in her life so far, all of whom were gods. She needed Zoë to tell her that it was fine like Artemis had done, she needed to be accepted by what she deemed her family.

She wasn't sorry for what she had done, but she didn't want to, no she _couldn't_ lose this family who had been so welcoming and invited her in.

Throughout her tale Zoë's face turned red with anger, her obsdian eyes shining like black gems in the light of fire.

"If they weren't dead by now I would kill them myself." - Zoë reassured her as she saw Aurelia's look.

"After I heard him say that you had killed I knew I had to talk to you about it. Especially after hearing your comment about the mortals' potential to be worse monsters than monsters themselves." - Zoë said to her. - "You don't have to worry, being part of the Hunt means being part of a family. We look out for each other. As soon as Artemis accepted you into our ranks you were above all suspicion."

Aurelia spoiled not having taken her eyes from Zoë, and saw that as her chance to help her fellow Hunter in return. - "Last night you said you didn't want to talk about it but what do you know of the Titan's curse? What do you know that we don't?" - Aurelia asked. - "You can trust me you know as a member of the same quest and as a member of the same family."

"Maybe I will in the near future." - Zoë sighed, before continuing. - "But for now let's go to Bianca the last thing I saw when I left her was the satyr trying to impress her with his music."

"Oh and when we talk about me we may also talk about you and what the lion said to you, I didn't hear much beside what I told you." - Zoë finished, with that done both girls gracefully exited the black car and marched towards the Lexus the other Hunter occupied.

...

**Please review and tell me what you think.**


	7. Divine Intervention

**So here is Chapter Seven. I hope you will enjoy reading it!**

**As alwasy I want to thank those of you who reviewed and of course everyone who reads the story.**

**Disclaimer: I own nothing. J.K. Rowling and Rick Riordan do.**

Aurelia's POV

Getting off the train the next morning, the Questers found themselves in train yard near a small ski town in the mountains. The sign at the town's entrance said that they were in New Mexico.

As the group made their way towards the town centre, which was about half a mile from the train tracks where they had arrived, Percy told the rest of the Questers about a conversation he had with Apollo the night before. The group apparently had to find Nereus the 'Old Man of the Sea' in San Francisco according to Apollo.

When they had reached the middle of the town and took a look around however they soon discovered that there was nothing, like a bus or taxi, to take them to San Francisco. Happily however for the coffee addicts, Grover and Zoë, they did find a coffee shop as they were searching. So it was decided that the two of them would buy coffee and food for the group while the rest of the group went into a nearby grocery store to ask for directions.

Inside the store Percy and Thalia got informed that there was no way in or out of the town without owning their own car and to call a taxi would probably cost several hundred dollars and with six of them they might even need two if they couldn't find a taxi service with vans or larger transport than cars.

After leaving the store again, Thalia decided to go ask other store owners on her own, leaving Percy in a very awkward position where he struggled with not being comfortable around two Hunters, the fact that one was Aurelia made it even worse. Bianca looked like she was felt a bit out of place near Percy as well.

As Bianca and Percy gradually fell into a conversation with each other Aurelia herself drifted away in her thoughts. She saw her vison go blurry before turning sharp again when she came back to her surroundings. As she looked around she saw that Zoë and Grover just had arrived and Zoë was offering her a coffee.

"We should do the tracking spell again" – Aurelia said, convinced that it would help them to find their way.

Zoë turned to look over at Grover asking – "Grover do you have the reagents for another try?"

"I think so. I just need to fin..." - He cut himself off letting his cup of coffee fall to the ground.

Suddenly they were enveloped in a fresh breeze of warm springtime air as it gushed past them, it seemed as if life itself was breathed into their surroundings animating the lifeless pictures of birds on their cup to real living flying birds. Aurelia immediately recognised whose doing this was. Pan had chosen to aid them on their quest.

A quick look to Grover showed his eyes were glazed over before he collapsed to the ground possessed by the Lord of Satyrs himself.

It was this moment Thalia chose to appear with the group of zombie warriors chasing her who seemed hell bent on hunting them down.

The group quickly grabbed Grover and turned to run as well, escaping as far as to the edge of the town, near a wood area, before they were forced to face the skeletons as they reached them.

Soon they found themselves surrounded by the four skeletons as they quickly spread out in an attempt to pen them in.

Pan's gift couldn't come at a better moment. Grover possessed by Pan served as a sort of transmission tower to call upon the might of the wild, Aurelia knew.

But first they would have to defend themselves against the skeleton warriors. Aurelia and Percy were the first to charge into the fray. Staff and sword making short work with skeletons only for them to regenerate almost as soon as they were destroyed and reaching for them as they attempted to work on another.

The only one who could really show some success in fighting the skeletons was Bianca who stuttered in surprise when she managed to destroy one of the warriors permanently turning it to ash with one simple stab of her hunting knife leaving the rest of the Questers looking dumbfounded.

It was then that the trees behind the skeletons were forcefully ripped out of the ground surrendering to the might of the largest boar Aurelia ever had seen with large wicked looking tusks. It was the 'Erymanthian Boar'.

"A blessing" – Grover cried out as the boar tossed the skeletons away with one swipe of his massive head.

"How is that a blessing?" - Bianca shouted stumbling away as the boar charged them. - "It wants to kill us!"

"Of course it wants to kill us. It's wild!" - Grover answered enthusiastically before turning around and fleeing, an action quickly copied by the rest of the quest as the boar began to reach them in his charge.

As the Questers raced ahead of the boar with all their strength Percy and Thalia ended up separated from the others with the boar surprisingly following them instead of the rest of the group most likely through to it disliking Thalias Aegis.

Turning around for them and following the track of uprooted, broken and torn out trees, the boar left in it's wake, the primarily hunter based group found both campers alive and the boar in a stunned condition.

"We have to use the blessing!" - Grover exclaimed as soon as they joined the two campers.

"It would be unwise to ignore a god's help, we have to use it." - Zoë agreed.

"And how do you know it's a blessing?" - Thalia asked irritated.

"It is our ride to the west" – Grover explained - "We have to board it. I just wish we had more time. With more time I could take a look around... but it's gone."

The satyr was very out of it looking around frantic. Percy who seemed concerned about his friend asked the Hunters just before they reached the boar. - "Do you know what he's talking about?"

It was Aurelia who answered before Zoë could – "Of course. Grover felt the very presense of Pan himself. You felt it too, I would imagine. It was in the air, a breeze of warmth like in spring, even though it's winter here in the mountains."

Quickly climbing onto the boar, with that the group of Questers continued on on their way west as the boar charged forward controlled by a magically floating apple.

...

At sunset the group found themselves at the edge of a massive junkyard in the middle of a desert. They had been forced to leave the boar not long before when he refused to take them any futher in to the barren land.

Looking around Aurelia noticed large pillars of old cars, scrap metal and other junk, there was even a freezer lying over to the side!

Grover who had once again performed a spell with his acorns had told them that danger laid ahead of them in the junkyard, their next challenge.

The Quest group decided to rest for the night before going into the yard the coming morning. After making a fire and setting up camp they found themselves spread around a comfy fire. During the conversation with the group as they asked Bianca about her past they were surprised, even if some had their suspicions, to discover that Bianca was actually seventy years older than they thought.

"Bianca who was the last President of the United States?" - Zoë asked her.

"Roosevelt" – The answer came from Bianca after a short time thinking. Aurelia, who wasn't sure considering that she wasn't up-to-date herself on the political situation in a previously foreign country after spending three years isolated inside a maze, didn't know if the answer was right or not but looking around and taking in the facial expressions of the others she could tell that it was the wrong answer, and if she wasn't mistaken the last Roosevelt president she remembered was the one who was in power during and before World War Two.

Before the discussion about Bianca's age could continue however they were all surprised and interrupted by the arrival of a white limousine.

Out of the limo stepped a huge muscle packed man in biker gear wearing leather wielding a sword who had it pointed straight at Percy's throat. Behind his shades Aurelia could only see a burning fire and no eyes. Just standing near him her anger peaked continued to rise. It was like waves of rage crashing into her, flooding her mind, clouding her reason.

"At ease, people." - He spoke. And with a snap of his large fingers the groups weapons fall to the ground, but also the anger they felt lessened slightly.

"This is a friendly meeting." - He said before looking at Percy. - "Of course I'd like to kill you, but someone wants to see you and the half monster. And I also make a habit out of never beheading my enemies in front of a lady."

"What do you want from her?" - Zoë asked protectively.

"I doubt she will want to speak to the likes of you girl so shoo" - He flicked his fingers away - "find something else to do" – The God of War sneered, as he continued to speak she felt his presence continue to beat down on her she knew it could not be anyone else.

"We will not leave them alone with thee." - Zoë stated clearly in response as she stood her ground.

"Also there is nothing here to do!" - Grover pointed out.

Sighing Ares snapped his fingers again causing a Taco shop to appear out of nowhere before their eyes and beginning to raise his voice – "Now leave us alone we have business to discuss!"

"Don't worry we can handle ourselves" – Percy said looking at Aurelia who nodded in agreement curious of what the god would want from them.

"So we will do it like this. Princess will go in there first after that it's your turn, understood?"

Nodding Percy stepped inside the limo, ignoring the insult, leaving Ares and Aurelia standing outside. Standing outside waiting for Percy to be finished Ares and Aurelia looked at each other now and then before falling into a conversation when Ares complimented her skills in capture the flag and told her that he liked that she used the direct approach. After a few minutes of talking with Ares it became painfully clear that there was nothing else on his mind than fighting and battle, all in all he was not very pleasant company but it was interesting enough to distract herself.

Talking to Ares she also noticed and compared the differences between Artemis and the other god. Where Artemis was graceful Ares was a brute. Where Artemis seemed level headed, Ares was uncontrolled anger. If she wasn't mistaken Artemis even had a stronger aura on her.

A short time later they were interrupted as the car door opened and Percy shuffled out of the car, she quickly entered leaving Percy to either Ares company or to join with the rest of the quest.

Sitting across from the goddess, for the woman could not be anything else, Aurelia found she couldn't focus on her face and body and that it seemed like it was constantly shifting. The woman was certainly beautiful but the auburn hair that appeared on her head seemed a bit too dull, the facial structure not sharp enough, and the silver eyes held no light. It was like looking at a copy, it was a good copy but in the end only a copy.

In the beginning Aurelia couldn't tell what the shifting was trying to accomplish, but as soon as it settled she knew. It was to show the person she was most attracted to, and to her, it seemed that was her Lady Artemis.

"I don't really have something to talk to you about" – The woman in front of her smirked after introducing herself as Aphrodite. - "I just wanted to see the person who is about to achieve the impossible. You know I just knew that someday some one would come that would be able to prove that prude who's right. "

Now that sounded suspicious. What did she mean by 'the impossible'? Thinking about what she knew of Aphrodite and Artemis, she couldn't help but feel like she was a pawn against her Lady in Aphrodite's endless game of manipulation, and she wouldn't let herself be manipulated only to hurt the person who had granted her a home and family. Her anger was roused by these thoughts putting her on guard and this time it had nothing to do with the presence of Ares outside.

"You can go now. Soon I will have plans for you but at the moment my focus is elsewhere. But be warned your life will not be easy and know that I only want to help you." - With these words she was dismissed. _Some of the gods really must have some nerve to interrupt a quest just so they can take a look at a specific quester..._ – Aurelia thought irritated before she turned around and opened the door next to her before leaving.

...

The next morning was still hours away when Aurelia got out and the limo left so everyone got into their sleeping bags to try and rest for the next leg of their journey as soon as they had all settled down again. The next day they would enter Hephaestus' junkyard filled with deadly, dangerous gadgets and trinkets, as Percy had learned in his talk with Aphrodite.

Soon Aurelia was the only one left awake as she lay on her back looking up into the star filled sky wondering how her life would progress from now on. After joning the hunt she thought that she knew everything this new life would entail, she would hunt with her new sisters following Artemis into battle until the day she would eventually fall to an enemy's blade, and that was a good life to live if one were to ask her, but now thinking about what the goddess of love had said to her she couldn't shake off the feeling that she would find so much more in life than what she had expected her life would be like.

Deciding to think of it more later with a final gaze at the moon Aurelia closed her eyes, it was the last thing she saw before she drifted off into Morpheus' realm.

...

In her dreams Aurelia was running through a wonderful forest. The trees were thick and covered in fresh moss. The very air was as clean as one could possibly imagine, filling her lungs. Through the treetops the light of the stars shined bathing the midnight woods in a silvery light.

Here she was on a hunt, trailing her prey through the hidden paths of this sylvan land. Soon she would reach her prize, she knew it! Coming close to an opening in the trees she slowed down and stalked forward carefully. Soundlessly and graceful she slid into the clearing coming face to face with silver eyes on a shapely figure enveloped in the moon's light.

...

With a start she woke up sitting up in a flash, her breathing hectic and fast. As she calmed feeling like her heart in her throat and with her fist clenched over her chest and her rapidly beating chest she noticed that it was still a short while to morning and laid back down knowing she wouldn't be able to sleep again. She laid there her thoughts flying around in her head as she tried to determine the meaning of her dream. _Artemis..._

...

The morning found them at the edge of the God's Junkyard, a place full of dangerous artefacts, weapons and trinkets that could kill them easily if looked at wrong, at least that was the impression everyone got from Zoë's warning.

Walking into the junkyard Aurelia felt a deep despair settling in her heart. It was as if she was about to lose something very important to her heart. All her instincts warned her to stay alert, last night's dream buried itself making place for her to focus. She looked around herself, as she walked in the middle of the group, watching for any kind of danger to herself and the others. She was in a state of over alertness, the conversations around her drowned out and ignored to better concentrate on what was going on around her.

There were pillars upon pillars of cars wheels and other things one would expect from a normal junkyard but what clearly showed that this wasn't a normal mortal junkyard were the piles of old weapons, reaching from classic swords to exotic arms like staffs with a long curved blades on them, other staff weapons with barbs, and every once in a while defective magical automatons.

It was near the end of the yard, in some sort of clearing, free from metalic scrap, when her sharp eyes left their surroundings, feeling a sense of danger, and zoomed themselves in on Bianca. The younger girl was bent over and had her arm outstreched reaching for a small shining figurine.

"BIANCA!" - Aurelia yelled at the small Hunter in an effort to warn her.

But it already was too late her small fingers closed around the miniature statue taking it with her as she stood up looking at Aurelia with a question on her face.

"What?" - Bianca asked innocently just before the world around them was engulfed in chaos.

With a loud crash cars and other metal objects were sent flying from a nearby junk hill, that looked like a pile of trash the size of a football field with what looked like massive toes stuck out at the bottom, as what seemed to be an earthquake took place.

The earth shook and suddenly giant metal arms shot out of the hill. What followed was a large humanoid if deformed head made of metal with large shining red eyes as it moved out of the junk hill and the hill seems to collapse and fall around it. The head took a 360° look around before it snaped into place focusing on the group of Questers.

"INVADERS" – An ear shattering voice coming from the metal head boomed.

"RUN!" - The genius idea found many convinced followers in the group as they made a run for it.

...

**Please tell me what you think about the stroy or just this chapter.**


	8. Sacrifices

**I apology for the long wait, but life is busy. I hope you will enjoy the cahpter and leave a review.**

**As always I want to thank all of you for reading and of course reviewing. You are great.**

**Disclaimer: I own nothing. J.K. Rowling and Rick Riordan do.**

Aurelia's POV

The sounds of the car's engine were the only thing that broke through the silence that had settled upon the group after leaving the Junkyard of the Gods. All of the surviving members of the diverse group of Questers were lost in their own little imaginary worlds as they tried to understand and to cope with the events of the last few hours in their own ways.

Zoë's gaze never moved from the road as she sat behind the wheel of the car, her hollow eyes always forward as she put all her concentration into the simple task of driving, she was already experienced with the lost of friends through out her long life, it had happened more times than she cared to remember, but that didn't mean it was easier for her to lose the girls she chose to embrace and care for as family, just that she was more accustomed to loss as horrible as that sounded.

Thalia and Percy on the other hand sat in the back of the car together with their heads leaning on the cold glass of the door windows looking out into the landscape in a dull haze, not having said or done a single thing since they entered the car and sagged down into their places, while Grover sat despondently between them with moist eyes and a sad look on his face as he gazed silently at his hooves without looking around or saying a word.

Aurelia herself, sitting next to Zoë in the front passenger seat, was having a hard time coping with the lost of her new adopted family member. She had embraced Bianca as a sister from the very beginning and after seeing her nearly give her life for Zoë in the meuseum, without hesitation she knew that Bianca had seen them as family too. She couldn't help but continually think back on what happened and how the full car came to feel so empty.

...

Thinking back to the fight that had taken place only an hour ago felt like she was watching the memories through thick blurry glass. Soon into their fight with the gigantic, mechanical statue thing they had ended up cornered together before they could escape or scatter. They had found themselves with their backs to a massive wall, a wall made of trash, yeah, but it still was a wall.

Once they realised they were trapped Thalia had attacked first and grabbed the giant's attention. She used the enemy's sheer size and slow movements against him evading all it's attempts to stamp her to death with her quickness and agility. Not being able to defeat the metal construct or even hurt it however, they settled for a holding tactic while desperately searching for any idea or strategy that could work to help save them on how to battle the monster between them and safety.

It was in that moment of frantic brains storming that Bianca had chosen to break out of their loose formation from standing beside Percy and sprinted straight under the descending foot of the giant killer machine Talos. Her eyes firmly focused on it's underside where she had spotted a small hatch to its insides. Time itself had seemed to slow down for the shocked group as the enormous foot crashed into the ground causing it to rip up even more of the landscape about them and another large cloud of dust to join the masses of it already thrown into the air.

...

Those had been the last moments of Bianca Di Angelo, Hunter of Artemis and her sister. With her self-sacrifice she had saved the lives of those on the quest at the horrific and steep cost of her own. Not only had she shown the skill expected from Artemis' Hunters in entering the fast approaching small hole in the giants foot she also had shown an unprecedented selflessness in giving her own life in the process of shutting down and destroying the massive automaton.

For the members of the Quest she would for ever remain in their hearts and minds as a kind hearted selfless person who despite her accident in waking up the automaton had given her all to undo her mistake.

Soon after leaving the Junkyard they had been lucky enough to find an unused truck with a near full gas and had claimed it for their own before taking off to continue on their journey.

...

It took a long while for any of the Questers to break the silence that had settled over them like a dark and heavy cloak. Percy was the first to speak saying something about how he should have been the one to go inside and tried harder, causing Grover to have an emotional breakdown sobbing. It was very shortly into his crying fit that they reached the end of the car's fuel leaving them at the end of a road near a river canyon.

The Questers without any transportation now that the car had broken down decided to follow the river until they came to a canoe rental. Dispite the rapids being far too swift for anyone to normally travel the river with a son of Poseidon on the team that didn't really matter.

During their canoe ride Aurelia took the chance to confront Zoë, who since the Junkyard had been even more quiet than usual, almost totally silent when not acting as their guide and leader.

"It's not your fault, you know?" - Aurelia stated to Zoë.

"I shouldn't have pushed for her to join the quest! I should have chosen one of the veteran Hunters instead. It's just that she was such a powerful Half-Blood and I was sure that we needed all the help we could get to help My Lady Artemis!" - Zoë replied fiercely.

"I've been leading the hunt for more than two thousand years now as it's lieutenant and I've been part of the hunt for even longer than that! And still nothing has changed! I make the same stupid mistakes! I should have gone with Artemis when she left or insisted I went alo..."

Here Aurelia interrupted her - "And what would have that accomplished? What would have been your chances against a monster Artemis herself couldn't defeat?"

Zoë stayed silent and looked away before staring straight ahead at the naiads Percy had called to help.

"They never forgave me" - She said as one of them splashed water at her.

"Who never forgave you?"

"Do you remember how you asked me what I knew about the quest you others knew not?" - Zoë asked instead of an answer.

"I think thou deserves to know my story. You already know how thy am the daugther of a Titan. I told you your first night in camp. What thou does not know is that my father is none other than Atlas himself. Let me start from the beginning. I once was an immortal..." - With that Zoë began telling her story to Aurelia.

Zoë story was a story of betrayal and lose. Betrayed by the one she loved and trusted most, Heracles the hero of heroes. Loss, when she was abandoned and disowned by her family and losing not just them but also her powers and immortality. Thankfully she had found a new family with the Hunters, just like Aurelia, and ever since she had dedicated her entire being to them.

It was not long after Zoë had finished with her story that they felt the canoes begin to slow down. A look ahead showed clearly why, the river was blocked by an enormous dam.

Percy and the others as they got closer surprised the two Hunters by beginning to state random facts about the dam like it's height, 700 feet, the decade it was built in, the 1930s, and how it could hold up to 5 million cubic acres of water.

Seeing their faces Percy explained with a simple – "Annabeth." - The name of the girl they lost in Maine. She had a thing for architecture, he said.

It was quickly decided that they would go up there, partly because the campers wanted to honour their missing friend but mainly because it was the road they had to take anyway.

It took a long time, about an hour, for them to reach the dam. For Aurelia it was a stunning experience. She never had seen something like it. With Pan she had seen the wonders of nature and the Dursleys would have never taken her somewhere, so this was the first time that she had seen the power humans have over nature and how they bent it to suit their needs. She now could clearly see where Pan was coming from. She herself saw that there needed to be a change. She had already seen big citys like New York, which she had seen from Appolo's chariot, and Washington D.C. and now in her mind the pieces came together, she saw the damage done to the wild and nature as a whole. There was no harmony anymore between the wild and humankind.

It was still an amazing sight but it stood for natures downfall, something completely against her nature and beliefs, it was something she would fight for to stop from happening.

All in all her mood didn't improve. While she looked across the huge walls of the dam the rest of the group decided it was a good chance to find something to eat. Faintly she thought she heard a 'Moo!' but this was a desert and with no cow in sight she put it to the back of her mind as she joined up with the rest of the group. Percy however quickly left once the got onto the Dam saying that 'he would be back soon'.

It wasn't long after that when he ran back looking rather shaken and joined them with the words, – "We gotta go!"

His breathing was heavy and uneven as if he had ran the way here and more. Before anyone could ask for details they all heard the clattering what was chasing him and quickly searching behind him saw the skeletons. A look through the panorama window showed a small skeleton army approaching.

As the skeletons drew nearer Grover had a crazy but surprisingly genius idea, he threw his taco inside a room that was full of kids yelling 'food fight', thankfully getting immediate and effective results. In the up coming chaos of the food fight the Questers managed to hurriedly flee outside but before they could truly escape they were cut off by a small group of skeletons guarding the exits stopping them in their tracks and were soon blocked off from retreat as their food covered comrades finally reached them from the way they came.

Standing with their backs to two huge gold statues with wings they were surrounded. Just before the skeletons closed in on them Percy and Thalia had the saving idea, with Thalia desperately asking, almost begging her father, Zeus gave his blessing to the two angel statues who awoke to life. The Questers already bunched and surrounded around the statues quickly climbed on as the statues took to the air leaving the skeletons behind with thankfully no way of following.

...

The fly towards San Francisco was eventless other than Percy telling the group how he had discovered the skeletons and was helped by what must have been a clear sighted mortal, one Rachel Elizabethe Dare.

It was early morning when the group landed under a bridge, shocking and freaking out a poor homeless man who took off screaming. Soon after that the flying automatons who the campers had learned to call Hank and Chuck left themselves claiming they were going off to visit some friends.

Once arriving in the City, in order to catch Nereus, Zoë who had previous experience with him told Percy that he would have to 'blend in' to get close to him, which meant they had to clothe him in things from something called a 'Goodwill drop box'. He looked so ridiculous that the rest of the group beside Zoë nearly burst into laughter every time they looked at him.

Watching Percy fight a really ragged looking homeless man was interesting but what was amazing was the true fight between the two that started as soon as they hit the water. The sea strengthened them both and the power the sea god's son displayed was stunning making it clear that while he was powerful on land, in the sea he was in a whole other league, managing to hold his grip on Nereus even as the immortal turned himself into a massive killer whale.

After Percy managed to subdue him the group came down the pier where Percy dragged their temporary prisoner out of the water in order to question the 'old man of the sea'.

Percy as the one who captured him asked the question, - "All right, tell me where we can find this monster that could bring an end to the gods."

"Ha, that's easy!" - The answer came, - "He's right there!" - Pointing behind him.

"Where?" - Percy asked.

"The deal is completed. You asked your question!" - With that the old man turned into a goldfish leaving Percy's hands grasping nothing but air and quickly jumping back into the sea.

The creature the god had pointed out was an odd one. It was a mix between a large serpent and a bull, making for one crazy but strangely harmless looking beast.

Upon seeing the serpent-cow Percy looked confused, - "Bessie?"

It was lucky that Grover was able to speak to the monster. In the following conversation it was discovered that the Ophiotaurus, as it's real name was obviously not Bessie, was the monster which could bring the gods downfall. It had to do with the power the killing of innocent brought with it. A power channeled through sacrifice. In the story Zoë told them, the last time the Ophiotaurus walked, or rather swam, this earth the sacrifice was interrupted by Zeus using an eagle to steal the Sea Bulls remains before they were burned and could be used against the Gods. In order to harness their power the Bull just be killed and the remains burned in fire, but after dying before the remains were stolen by Zeus before they could be used by the killer.

Before they could come to an decision on how to handle this new situation and what to do an old friend of the group, excluding Aurelia, interrupted them. It was Dr. Thorne the manticore, Aurelia recognised it as the one the demigods were fighting when she first saw them.

How the monster managed to sneak up to them was a question to Aurelia. Even if he had evaded her senses Grover definitely should have smelled something. Not that it mattered at the moment though.

Definitely in their favor was that the manticore had come alone except for two mortal mercenaries, something he claimed was to prove something to the 'General', as became clear in his short monologue.

Following was the manticore in trying to convince Thalia into changing sides coaxing her with the promise of ultimate power. Sadly it looked as if he would succeed in his efforts as Thalia wavered making Aurelia decided it was time to act. With a mighty leap she jumped straight at the monster claws extended.

Dr. Thorne was about to discover that not all Half-Bloods were weaklings. She engaged with him in battle which she soon dominated. Fast and strong were her attacks and in a matter of minutes the enemy was defeated and dead or in Thorne's case dust not standing a chance against such a powerful group of fighters. It wasn't even a real fight, as soon as Thorne was down the mortals were dead meat to Aurelia, who showed them no mercy.

"We have to bring the Ophiotaurus to Camp Half-Blood. It has to be saved." - Percy said after quickly looking away from the bloody work of seeing Aurelia slay the mortals while looking pale.

So it was decided to contact camp where they got Dionysus instead of Chiron. After telling him what happened and about the serpent-cow the group came to the decision to have Grover ride the cow back to camp which said satyr refused to do at the beginning, but thankfully in the end the group succeeded in convincing him.

Mr D's parting words caused for another stir inside the group. - "...Oh, I think the huntress knows..."

Zoë, put on the spot by the god's words, told the rest of the group where she had determined that they had to go to complete the quest, the Garden of her sisters, the Hesperides. She told them that they had to enter at sunset as it was the only time the way was open and they would be able to enter the Garden. If they missed the sunset they had to wait until the next day, and seeing as the next day was the Winter Solstice and they would be too late for the meeting and their deadline they couldn't miss it.

"We'll need a car to make it in time." - Thalia concluded.

"And where could we find a car. We have no money left, so unless we 'borrow' one..."

"Hmm... There is someone who could help us, but..." - Thalia began before stopping herself.

Zoë grasped the chance viciously turning to Thalia anxiously - "Who is it?! We have to use every thing to reach the garden."

"Professor Chase. Annabeth's dad." - Came the short reply.

...

Professor Chase was a rather odd guy. His clothes were a bit messy and he was unshaved. Not in an unhygienic way, more like he just hadn't found the time. As he opened the door to his house he looked at them with an eager expression. - "Are you delivering my air planes?"

Percy said in response - "No sir, we're friends of Annabeth." - That got his attention and put an serious look on his face whipping away the hopefulness from just seconds before.

"Did something happen to her? Is she okay?" - He quickly asked. Seeing the looks of the group he seemed to get the idea and invited them into his study to tell him what was going on.

The doctor's study proved that he was a military history Professor. On a large table one could see an World War I model. Tanks, airplanes and little soldiers to foot made for an amazing pictuere. He mentioned during their conversation even that he had his own real World War I airplane on a field near by.

In the end it didn't take much to convince Dr. Chase to lend them his car. He was also very worried about his daughter.

...

Just before they could reach the garden a sense of danger made itself known to Aurelia and she was quick to warn the others about it, they were easily convinced that there was something wrong, so Aurelia figured they must have felt something too. They all managed to jump out of the car just before a massive bolt of lighting hit it, making it erupt in flames and sending metal pieces flying as shrapnel everywhere, luckily the car had continued down the road after they jumped, and even a second or two was enough time for the car to travel far enough that huddled on the road as the Questers were they didn't get injured by the blast.

They were forced to walk the rest of the way to the Gardens. Thalia was convinced that Zeus' was out for her blood remembering the '_One shall perish by a parents hand_' – line of the prophecy.

"If you have forgotten there are two others here who are likely to be perish at the hands of their parents" - Aurelia said to Thaila reminding her that Aurelia's dad had already attacked them and that they were about to face the formerly mysterious 'General' who was as they now knew Zoë's father as well. Even Percy was sure that the Lightning bolt was Kronos' work not Zeus'.

The fog became thicker and thicker with every step they took towards the direction of the Garden. It took some time to arrive but once they reached the Garden the fog thankfully disappeared almost completely with only a small layer on the ground which twirled around their feet. The sunset painted every thing in a blood red colour filling it with the dying light of the day.

In front of the group laid the most beautiful garden Aurelia ever had seen. With the greenest grass and flowers in every imagible colour and shape. Even if it was just a garden, which meant a piece of tamed nature, it was stunning. If it wasn't for the dragon in the middle, wrapped around a huge tree spotted with shining golden apples that were shimmering enticingly, she could have lost herself for a time in the sight but as it was her instincts were set on the highest alert.

The dragon itself was enormous with countless vicious looking heads dripping venom. It was when four figures faded into existence in front of them that the group re-found their usual selves after being caught in the view of the apples or just the garden itself.

"Sisters." - Zoë started only to be cut off.

"We see no sister only a traitor in company of Half-Bloods. Go, or we will call upon Ladon."

"We will not go. We will find Artemis and free her. As simple as that." - Aurelia spoke angry that they dared to insult her friend and family.

It was about then that thing went down hill. The Hesperides woke Ladon in their anger and disappeared. The angry dragon was then successfully distracted by Zoë, at least partly. As the group was about half way to the trail leading up the mountain Ladon decided to have Zoë as a snack and attacked. With all her expereince and skill Zoë evaded the attacks and stopped Aurelia and Percy who had turned back and were about to attack the dragon to help their friend in need.

Luckly Thalia, too, drew her weapons and opened her shield with the Head of Medusa shown in all her glory causing the enraged dragon to flinch giving Zoë just enough time to sprint the way to the trail were the group meanwhile had gathered.

Together they all ran up the mountain soon reaching what looked to be the ruins of what once must have been a great and imposing city rivaling with Olympus itself in gereatness.

"The ruins of Mount Othrys, former seat of the Titans' power"

...

**Please tell me what you think.**


	9. Moonrise

**Well, over a month has passed since my last update. I'm sorry for that. And honestly it's all my fault. I was busy and didn't find time to write, that's all I can say.**

**This chapter also did take some time to write and I hope you all will like it. Leez, my co-writer, was more than a huge help, without them this chapter never would have been the way it is now. Leez spent a lot of time and effort on this chapter and as I already said it wouldn't be half as good. He helped to clear things up and make them more understandable by adding parts here and there as well as editing. **

**I hope you all will enjoy reading the chapter and as always I want to thank those of you who took the time to review. I again apologise for the long wait.**

**Disclaimer: I own nothing. J.K. Rowling and Rick Riordan do.**

Aurelia's POV

The Questers stood silently glancing at each other as they drew their weapons upon reaching the entrance to the once great city of the Titans now laying in ruins before them, the light of a dying sun shone through the broken walls of the city which once stood as a monument to the Titans' power now broken and abandoned, painting the world around them a deep orange-red reminiscent of spilt blood.

The group entered the seemingly deserted Mount Othrys silently onto the main street which crossed through the entirety of the city. It didn't take long following the street for the Questers to find themselves at the furthest edge of the city where the largest building in the city stood below the mountain's peak. Before them stood what once must have been the throne room. A building with huge walls but an open roof. The bronze gate leading inside stood wide open granting the Quseters a view inside.

"How can this be? After the Titans' defeat in the first war their thrones were destroyed." - Zoë wondered out loud in surprise.

But still in front of the group the seats of the Titan Council repaired themselves slowly but steady, rocks moving as if on their own slowly across the ground and even defying gravity to roll onto the broken thrones in front of their eyes then almost melting to build the broken thrones back higher.

"It dosen't matter right now. We have to find Artemis. Later their will be enough time to worry about that..._hopefully._" - Aurelia answered, the last part only in her thoughts.

"Aurelia is right. We have no time to waste. The day is nearly over!" - Thalia agreed with the newest Hunter.

"But where is she being held?" - Percy asked looking at Zoë for answeres.

Zoë returned sure in her knowledge - "We have to pass the Throne room. There is a path leading up to the very tip of the mountain were Atlas was sentenced to forever hold the sky as his punishment."

The path was a small trail directly connected with the council building holding the Titans thrones. It didn't take them long to find it or to reach the peak of the Mountain of Despair where the Titans where had been born into the world by Gaia and Uranus conceived so many millennia ago.

The scene they found at the top was a disheartening one but the group stood ready, determined not to give in. Not while they could still fight and definitely not before they even started.

Before them on the top of the mountain's peak plateau a ten foot tall man with muscles revealed putting any body builder, even Ares, to shame in comparison stood oozing arrogance and self assurance. He wore a white tunic and over it a Greek style bronze armour including harness, bracers, platelegs and an imposing helmet which made his face impossible to see. In his hands he held a javelin and a shield made of shining bronze with the setting sun behind him bathing the plateau in dark reddish light. This was, with out a doubt, Atlas, the Titan of Endurance, who was sentenced to forever hold the sky away from the Earth and known as the General for his actions in the first titan war. A mighty aura washed over the group origin from him, an aura which could rival any of the Olympians in strength, one which to Aurelia felt actively malicious and insidious even more so than she had felt from Ares'... Then again it's not like he was trying to intimidate her or wanted to kill or even harm her when they had met.

Beside him stood a young man who looked around eighteen with sandy blond hair and a large scar marring the left side of his face passing over his left eye. In his hand he held a vicous looking sword made of celestial bronze and steel. From the description she'd been given Aurelia knew that this must be the traitor Luke, son of Hermes, betrayer of Olympus and consequently his own family. Clear evidence for that, if one was needed, was the blond girl, Annabeth, standing in front of him, her hands shackled with bronze chains.

Behind the two stood a squad of what must have been elite monsters judging from their wicked looking full body armour consisting of mainly large Cyclops and Dracanaes.

Aurelia had only a passing glance to take all of this in. Her eyes immediately captured by the painful sight of her Lady holding up the sky. Even in a situation like this Artemis radiated confidence and strength though Aurelia at least could see she was tiring. And seeing Artemis bear the weight of the sky by sheer determination and power of will, fighting through the pain she obviously was in racking her body just served to confirm again to Aurelia that she chose the right person to follow and she knew now more than ever that she wouldn't stop until Artemis was free.

It was then that Artemis looked up and their eyes met like they had on that winter morning which felt so long ago but was in reality not even a week since. It were the same silver pools looking at her, filled with suppressed power she remembered and cherished but this time they were also filled with fear, not for herself Aurelia could see that, but for the two hunters standing there facing a Titan and his henchmen.

...

Artemis POV

Hearing the sound of footsteps stopping Artemis lifted her gaze to look at the latest arrivals.  
She didn't know why the Titan had gathered this small elite group of monsters and the demigod traitor Castellan but if she were to take a guess she would say that the quest which without the trace of a doubt had been send out to find her had arrived and Atlas had prepared accordingly as was in his nature as a general. She wished there was a way to warn the Questers but she couldn't think of one.

The sight before her however was different from what she had suspected. It made her temporarily forget about the crushing weight on her shoulders. There not far away stood not only the son of Poseidon and the demigod daughter of Zeus but also Zoë and her newest Hunter Aurelia. All in all it was a group matched to face most threats considering the talent and power as well as the experience the group brought forward together but Artemis knew that a Titan was still out of their league by far.

But what caught her eyes, again she would have to admit, were these orange cat like orbs shining with reflected light that were locked upon her. They were just so drawing. She could see the wild determination of an animal fighting for it's pack roaring within, a fire fuelled by past loss and a willingness to fight to the death to protect her new bonds.

All this will to fight for her, something she could see in all of the group even in the campers, if to a lesser degree for her and more for their own reasons. And all she could feel was despair, the fear she would see them butchered in front of her very eyes.

"You have to flee! He can't attack you unless challenged directly!" - Artemis called out to the Questers.

Before she could say anything else she was interrupted by the booming laughter of Atlas – "You think they will flee? No, they came to fight and that is what they will do. I can see it as can you surely, they all have something here they wish to gain. For the daughter of Zeus it's revenge on young Luke here, the sea spawn's wish is to rescue his little girlfriend here, and my dear daughter as well as the other girl scout seek to save the damsel in distress, you dear Artemis."

She knew that he was right having seen the same. The worst for her was knowing that she could only watch them fight and fall and not intervene trapped as she was beneath the weight of the entire sky above them, how could they hope to defeat the titan without her help?

"Lady Artemis we will free you that I promise!" - Artemis heard from Aurelia and Zoë, voices full of conviction and determined strength, as the group readied itself for the battle to come.

"Thalia, it's not too late for you to join us." - Luke said imploringly to the sky god's demigod child, attempting to convince her to join Kronos ranks and end the Olympians' reign.

"I don't know you anymore Luke. You are not the same person you were when we traveled together, you are not the one who was like a brother to me ... _and so much more._" - Artemis' half sister answered in return, the last part whispered in a broken voice full of pain.

But Luke wasn't done yet. - "You are right I am not that person anymore, I have come to acknowledge the truth about the gods, how they use us, how they see us as little more than pawns in their endless games. How could I be not changed by that. But now there is an end in sight! An end provided by Kronos. Join us! Join _Me_!_"_

"My answer remains the same: _No_, Luke! But I will take you back to camp, beaten bloody if I have to, there they will be able to help you with what ever Kronos has done to you!"

"Kronos has done nothing to me besides opening my eyes, I ..." - Before he could continue he was interrupted by Atlas himself.

"You heard her. She has chosen her side and it is not with you. This way is more fun anyhow!" - The General's words were spoken with the excitement of a battle approaching, insane mirth slowly starting to enter his voice as he spoke on. - "If you prove to be worthy adversaries, even if I doubt you will, I will make your deaths quick."

With these words it was clear to all involved that the time to speak had passed and the time to fight had come, there was no pause between the two.

Artemis could only hope that at the end of the day her Hunters would still live.

...

Aurelia's POV

In the corner of her eye Aurelia could see as Thalia charged shield raised and spear at the ready to jump into the fight against Luke and the monster warriors, sharp blasts of lightning and thunder could be heard as she went. Aurelia followed Percy who quickly sped forwards to engage the Titan in battle while Zoë stood a fair distant behind to support them with her arrows.

As Aurelia arrived at the Titan's side to attack she saw Percy being knocked away several feet after blocking just one of Atlas' swift blows.

"Don't try to block, he's too strong for that!" - Zoë's strong voice carried over to the two melee fighters. _So dodging it is, -_Aurelia thought to herself.

Seeing a chance she quickly and fiercely swung her staff down on the enemy's unprotected shoulder, hoping to make the first injury on her opponent, to do some damage and make it easier to capitalize on this side. The speed of Atlas's shield however was stunning in its quickness and agility and his vast experience made even such a quick block effective enough to complete negate Aurelia's strike allowing him to send his javelin swiftly racing towards her neck forcing Aurelia to use all her inherited and trained agility and instincts to dodge the lethal counterattack.

Backing away Aurelia took the chance to have a quick look over the battlefield. Thalia and Luke were engaged into a fiery and flashy fight with no clear winner as of now, Thalia using her powers as she could but Luke was simply better at melee than her with his constant years of training and Thalia mainly using her short experiences from the Quest and her younger years alongside her demigod instincts to fight with her spear, her Powers were something Luke couldn't deal with however, and her electricity wreathed spear was dangerous to block or be hit by in case it shocked him enough to give Thalia an opening or if bad enough take him out of the fight, they were practically surrounded by golden dust on all sides making Aurelia guess that Luke had attempted to let the monsters take care of Thalia before joining battle when they lost, the golden dust literally coated the ground around them. Atlas was the high priority here holding back the three Questers with ease while laughing manicly.

Seeing Thalia busy fighting with Castellan Aurelia with new vigour let out a feral sounding roar and jumped straight into the fight trying to catch the Titan off guard.

She could see from the short fight before that her staff would not be an appropriate weapon, as it was now at least, against such a mighty foe so she concentrated her magic to swiftly change one of it's ends into a deadly and sharp tip.

The new weapon soon got a chance to prove it's use as Percy dodged a vicous blow of Atlas exposing the Titan's left side. With a quick leap she was behind the enemy's guard and rammed her newly created spear towards his right thigh with all her impressive strength. The magical wood pierced straight through the fabric of the titan's tunic and deep into the muscled leg, causing a deep wound that quickly began gushing ichor.

Atlas's roar of pain and rage was deafening. He promised with a furious voice - "You will pay for that!"

Immediately after shouting his rage it was obvious the Titan had stopped playing with them. His attacks coming quicker and harder despite the wound which should have handicapped him at least slightly. His favourite target quickly became obvious as Aurelia was the only one who managed to actually wound him.

Never had she been in such a fight. Even three against one they didn't stand a single chance they were quickly being pushed hard and furiously barely keeping up with Atlas's strikes and cleaves. Never before had she been more thankful towards Pan for his relentless training as it had without a doubt saved her life today more than once in this fight .

"You are quick and strong I will give you that monster spawn. You could have a place among us . We could use someone like you, someone strong." - Still as he spoke to her, his attacks never ceased.

Snarling furiously Aurelia answered him with her teeth gritting in effort at dodging and parrying Atlas's swings. - "I would never betray my family to work for the likes of you! I'd sooner die." With that said she threw herself into a counterattack on his up until now spotless assault as she spotted an opening which she fully intended to grasp with both hands. Too late she saw it for the trap it was, Atlas's grin never wavering as she sprung towards him.

"As you wish. DIE!"

Aurelia's world exploded in red hot pain. All over her body waves of pain washed, emanating from her chest were she was hit by the titan's javelin. The celestial bronze weapon pierced right through her Hunter's uniform, the tip of the short spear coming out of her back.

"Too bad you wouldn't listen, you had the most potential here." - With that he tossed the Huntress' body several feet aside to continue his battle with the others.

Never before had she felt such pain, not even in her wretched childhood. Looking down her dying body she could see the hole in her chest oozing with blood. Slowly she felt her life fade away as darkness flowed in from the edge of her vison. The last thing she saw through the pain and the darkness set in was a pair of were beautiful and terrified silver eyes.

_Be safe My Lady... Artemis..._

_..._

Artemis' POV

It never was easy to witness the death of one of her Hunters for Artemis but this time it felt like the spear had pierced her heart as well. Looking into the face of her dying handmaiden she frantically searched for a sign of life in those beautiful orange eyes. Yet all she could see was the life fading inside them.

As the last prayer reached her from Aurelia, determination settled and swelled in on her. _I will avenge you that I swear upon the river Styx. _\- The oath was spoken silently but still the characteristic thunder of the cursed river could be heard even over Thalia's battle efforts.

The chance to fullfill this vow soon presented itself in form of the sea god's son. Having seen his ally fall to the Titan so quickly he came to the conclusion that only another immortal could hope to win this fight.

Percy gave Artemis the opportunity to have her revenge by accepting the burden of the sky from her, forcing his body to hold strong as he grabbed the sky to take her place freeing Artemis to battle the Titan general.

A thought sufficed to have her armed, two identical hunting knifes made of Olympian silver materialized in her ready hands. Fast as a lightning she was upon the unsuspecting Titan. Like hellfire her attacks fell down on him ferociously catching him completely offguard.

Atlas managed to escape her assault through eons of experience but still the wounds he suffered in these first few moments of fending off her assault were many and together with the deep wound caused by Aurelia earlier into the fight he could tell he was facing a loss and would need to flee before it was too late, a loss his pride and honour, questionable as it may be, wouldn't allow him to accept, Artemis knew.

Despite his many injuries Atlas showed why he was one of the most feared figures during the First Titan War by even with his injuries still giving Artemis a battle many Olympians would have lost. And Artemis' own exhaustion did not work for her if she wanted to end this fight soon. And she knew she had to end it quickly with Poseidon's son still struggling to hold the sky in her stead.

Pushing Atlas towards the young demigod's position was easier than she would have hoped. At this point the titan was lost in his battle rage making him easy to control but all the more deadly when caught in one of his attacks.

"NOW!" - Artemis shouted to signal the demigod to let loose of the sky while kicking the Titan as hard as she could using an extremely small opening she had forced open in his defence by throwing one of her hunting knives at his face to send the Titan flying backwards.

Quickly realising what Artemis had planned, in his flight Atlas roared – "NO! I WILL NOT GO DOWN LIKE THIS!" - With a mighty twist of his right arm he threw his javelin with his massive strength towards his own daughter standing near her fallen sister in arms to take at least some revenge before he was once again imprisoned between the sky and the earth at his captors' mercy.

"ZOË!" - Artemis warning came to late as the defeated Titan took another victim.

Looking up from her sister in all but blood Zoë was about to speak when the javelin pierced right through the Titan's daughter's heart before sending her flying swiftly backwards to the ground.

Running up to the two hunters, Artemis kneeled down besides her lieutenant confirming her fears that her longest and most loyal follower who had been like a sister to her for so very long was indeed dead. She could feel Thanatos' presence on Zoë telling her that there was nothing that she could do to save her.

Weeping openly at her loss she barely overheard the rattled breaths coming from the tall golden blond next to her. Swiftly turning and moving to her other fallen maiden Artemis could see the chest of her newest hunter heave slowly and small breaths of air were coming from her mouth. Quickly noticing that the breaths were becoming smaller and with more time in between them Artemis acted instantly.

Cursing herself inwardly for not learning more about healing than she had she placed her hands over the gruesome wound, she could see evidence of a small amount of healing but there was a hole right through Aurelia's right chest. Starting a slow chant in ancient Greek she channeled the rest of her tiring powers into healing energy. As her hands started to glow in a bright silver light, the light slipped softly and eagerly into the hurt hunters body. Soon the wound was closed leaving only a roughly star shaped scar on the girls right chest which now showed the heaving of normal breathing.

"Lady Artemis, I didn't know you were so proficient in healing." - The blonde daughter of Athena asked standing next to her with the other campers. She hadn't heard them coming or anything really since starting the healing chant her concentration was completely focused on Aurelia and the healing.

"I can't say I am. This shouldn't have been possible, a wound like this should have killed anyone else and to see her still alive to even start the healing and then fully recovering so fast is more than astounding." - Artemis answered softly knowing that even her twin Apollo, the god of healing... and many other things..., would have had some problems with this, it was a mystery to her.

"And what is with the scar? It looks like a star to me." - The spent Percy still exhausted from holding the sky asked before he quickly paled realizing he just admitted to the Goddess of Maidens to have looked at one of her handmaidens' chests.

Ignoring the boy for now Artemis suggested – "Maybe it has to do with her nature. She isn't like a normal demigod after all."

"But it doesn't matter right now. We have to go to the Olymp before the meeting begins and you must come with me as witnesses and for Appolo to have a look at Aurelia."

With a small flaring of her powers her chariot, in its original form as a chariot from when she last used it, appeared in front of them. A snapping of her fingers caused the Chariot to almost instantly change into a carriage which could much more easily hold them all and they could all enter instead of being exposed to the outside. Artemis also took the dead body of her best friend with them so Zoë would not have to be exposed. She promised herself that as soon as this all was done with she would take care of Zoë's funeral with all the other hunters present.

Artemis last words before taking off were - "Please have a seat. It won't take too long."

...

**I hope you enjoyed the chapter.**

**Please leave a review or send me a PM to tell me what you think about the chapter.**

**You could for example tell me what you thought of the fight between the Questers and Atlas.  
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	10. Abode of the Gods

**It has been a long time since I last updated but I'm happy to say I'M BACK or rather WE ARE BACK (cannot forget my co-writer here)**

**I have to say that I am sorry for the long wait. It took a long time to write the chapter and there were a few delays caused by life as a whole. I hope you all will enjoy the new chapter and maybe even review. **

**Last thing or things I want to say before you can continue with reading the story is a thank you for reading this FF, a big thank you for those who putted it on their favorite and/or follow list(s), and of course a special thanks for you who took some time to review.**

**Disclaimer: I own nothing. J.K. Rowling and Rick Riordan do.**

Aurelia's POV

Aurelia woke up to the sound of whispers. Opening her eyes, she squinted taking a moment to listen and orient herself taking in everything around her. She was lying on a bench inside what appeared to be a big carriage of some sort, from what she could see the decoration was rather simple and it was just large enough to allow the passengers to sit comfortably or in her case to lie comfortably.

Looking around she saw the sober faces of Thalia and Percy and the blonde girl, Annabeth, who were sitting on the bench opposite hers. Feeling the presence of another she turned to look at the person next to her.

"It's good to see you are awake." - Artemis said to her as soon as their eyes meet.

"What happened? I was sure that I was going to die?"

After what seemed to be a small eternity Artemis answered her – "I came just in time to save you. I don't know how but I succeeded in closing the wound and keeping you alive. My theory is that it was likely your unique nature that kept you alive long enough for me to help you and then it also aided with the healing."

Aurelia wasn't sure if by 'unique nature' Artemis meant her heritage as a half monster, her magic or possibly even both. Deciding that there was no use in starting that conversation while the campers were here she choose to ask another question.

"Where is Zoë?"

The silence which followed her inquery was so tense she could practically feel the unease in the air. Seeing the looks on the other Questers' faces and Artemis' she dreaded to hear the answer but still she needed to know what happened.

"Zoë died during the battle. Her father killed her in his last attack just before he was once again imprisoned under the sky." - Despite her own grief the goddess knew that her hunter needed to hear what occured on the mountain's top. Others might think of her as heartless for her direct answer but she wasn't one to beat around the bush and hide the truth just because it was an unpleasant one.

Hearing those words but not quite comprehending them Aurelia's thoughts went to the strong girl she had come to think of as a sister. She thought about the strong and earnest Zoë who was so obviously the first of the hunters in her bearing and her care. She also thought about the compassionate Zoë the one never to abandoned a fellow sister in their need. How could she be dead? And by the hands of her own father no less... But Artemis would never lie to her. As the last thought realized in her mind the grief was quick to follow. With tears in her eyes she looked up as a comforting hand settled on her shoulder.

"I know that it is hard to lose a sister but do not forget that Zoë would want us to live on. We will honour her with our lifes. We will honour her by fighting for what she stood for. And when we reach the camp later, do not doubt that the whole hunt will come together so we can give her the last farewell she deserves. There is a place among the stars for her." - Artemis soft spoken words reached Aurelia through the fog of her grief and gave her the strength to wipe away her tears.

Aurelia's response still was a bit shaken but she quickly regained her composure - "Of course, My Lady."

"Where are we heading and how long was I out?" - She asked after taking another deep breath.

"You were unconscious for about half an hour. Again I believe your nature has something to do with your rather short black out. Our current destination is Mount Olympus, New York." - She was informed by her divine leader.

...

It didn't take long for them to reach Olympus. Looking out of her window Aurelia could see the City of the Gods in all it's glory. Huge buildings and statues of various heroes and gods towered into the sky. They landed in fornt of what must have been Artemis' palace here on Olympus if the statues of deers, her sacred animal, and other wildlife as well as the moonlight radiating from the silver engravings on the portal, leading inside, were any indication.

"From here on we will go by foot." - The goddess informed the group before they disembarked and she turned to lead the way towards the throne room.

To see Olympus from above was entirely different than seeing it walking through the streets and by Artemis' side no less. Minor gods and goddesses, nymphs and satyrs alike parted to allow the moon deity unimpeded through on her way to the council. The whispers of Olympus' residents folllowed them on their way, the news about Artemis' rescue no doubt soon to be known by everyone currently in the city.

When they reached the gates leading to the throne room Artemis stopped and turned to them – "When we go inside you will bow to Zeus and then to your respective parent after that you will take a seat at their feet. It is important to not offend Zeus. Do you understand?" - Seeing them nod their heads Artemis looked towards Aurelia – "This is all the more important for you. You have no parent on the council but I will take that place for the meeting meaning you will take your seat in front of my throne."

With that said Artemis turned back around and opened the huge door with a graceful wave of her hand before she walked in with proud steps, followed closely by the Halfbloods.

...

The throne room was a sight that to be seen to be believed and truly comprehended. The room was absolutely huge, it made out of shiny marble and the dome like roof was held up by large evenly spaced massive pillars. The thrones were arranged in a half circle facing towards the door with each clearly belonging to a different God and showing so in how no two ever were alike, yet each still gave off a feeling of awe and power.

In the centre of the half circle, facing the entrance to the throne room directly was the throne of Zeus, it was a huge glorious thing decorated with venerated scenes out of his life and lightnings that writhed like they were alive and just waiting to strike. Zeus himself sat arrogantly looking straight ahead at the group, his entire bearing and being emitting power and divine might. He wore an expensive business suit that fit him perfectly emphasising his size and presence and had rather short brown hair, a short goatee and a severe face. Next to him on his right side sat his wife Hera, a woman with black hair and brown eyes wearing what seemed to be a permanent frown and a typical old Greek style dress tunic. Beside her sat Demeter, wearing a green tunic, and next to her Athena, the grey-eyed, black-haired goddess. Ares' throne looked like it was made out of broken arms and cushioned with human skin, he wore leather and bronze armour and was playing with a broad sword while looking around with a bored look on his face. Hermes' throne was from what she could see just a comfortable looking chair, Hermes himself looked like a mailman with winged sneakers. At the end of the right side was Dionysus on a simple looking throne warped in vine tendrils. On Zeus left side sat Poseidon, the earth shaker, sitting on a throne resembling a raging ocean, he wore a simple shirt and sandals, his facial features though older and more mature reminder her somewhat of Percy. Then there was Aphrodite, her small statures and features still a less than perfect copy of Artemis to Aurelia and beside her her husband Hephaestus, a large burly behemoth of a man. The last occupied Throne belong to Apollo, a shining golden throne which seemed to have it's only goal in annoying Aurelia by blinding her with reflected light. Finally next to her twin's throne proudly stood Artemis' own. It was an elegant looking throne detailed with delicate looking silver workmanship of the most dangerous and worthy beasts Artemis had hunted in the past.

The deities sitting on their thrones had all turned to see who would dare to interrupt such an important meeting as they heard the opening of the Throne room doors. As they saw Artemis walk in however their irritation and indignation quickly turned clearly to relief.

"My dear daughter, I am glad you found your way to us just in time for the winter solstice meeting to begin." Zeus voice boomed.

"Father, it's good to be free again. I wouldn't be here tonight if it wasn't for these brave Halfbloods. Please step forward heroes." - As she spoke Artemis grew until she reached ten foot in height.

Thalia, Percy and Annabeth met no difficulty as they did as Artemis had told them to do earlier. When Aurelia stepped forward to do so however she barely took a few steps before she was interrupted by Zeus' loud voice. - "Artemis, why is this filth even on Olympus? And in my throne room no less?!"

"She is one of my hunters and she was a key part of the group which freed me!" - Artemis spoke with a confidence few would have standing in front of a displeased king of gods. Laying a hand on Aurelia's shoulder the goddess continued. - "And as a hunter she is part of my domain."

Zeus didn't look too happy about her response but it was clear that he wished to proceed with the meeting so he out it visibly put it aside – "Very well then, all of you take a seat. We will discuss this later but now let's come to the matter at hand, your capture and who was behind it."

In the next hour every member of the group as well as Annabeth and Groover, who was sent for when it was his turn, were questioned about their experience on the quest.

"So you say that the Titans are rising again? That my father is rising again?" - Zeus asked.

"Father, I have heard Atlas as he spoke of the war preparations the enemy is going through. We have all noticed that monsters are gathering. It is clear the Titans are rising to challenge Olympus' power. We have to be ready, we have to muster our own forces and prepare the demigods." - Artemis said firmly trying to convince the god of the sky.

From there on it was rather quick the gods voted and it was unanimously decided to prepare for war and the Titans return. After the vote was done and the gods had decided how to go in their preperations Zeus turned on the last remaining open points.

"After hearing what you, Aurelia , daughter of the Nemean lion, have done to ensure the quest succeed I, Zeus, king of the gods, have decided to spare your life. I also will allow you to remain as one of my daughter's handmaiden." - Artemis outraged, looked like she was about to protest how any of this was his right to decide but before she could speak she was interrupted.

"Yeah, yeah I'm too for not blasting the girl into pieces, she got fire, but what's about those two" – Ares said that while pointing at Thalia and Percy – "They both are a danger to our rule aren't they?"

That notion was soon shut down by both Poseidon and Zeus. They weren't too fond about killing their own children.

"Now let's reward these heroes before us. They were brave, strong and took on a threat they had no real chance of defeating in the name of Olympus, for that they deserve a reward! Step forward daughter. What would you ask for as a reward?"

Thalia who now stood in the middle of the room looked around nervously before her eyes settled on the ground in front of her. It took her a long time before she looked up to meet her fathers eyes.

"I don't want to be the child of prophecy! Tomorrow I turn sixteen. I don't want the responsibility..." - Thalia's voice cracked and trailed off at the end.

Zeus answered her softly with a nearly undetectable sad undertone - "I do not know if that is possible, child."

"I may know a way. But I will have to ask my sister first before I suggest it." – Artemis spoke. With that she stood up and walked up to Thalia. As she reached the girl she steadily changed her size again to be on eye level with the demigod and started to whisper to her.

After a few minutes of quiet conversation Thalia said with in a clear voice – "I accept."

"What do you accept? What is it you have planned to keep my child from the prophecy Artemis?" - Zeus clearly was confused.

The goddess in question was quick to explain - "I have offered her a place in my hunt. As she is part of the hunt now she will never become sixteen and so be safe from the prophecy."

It didn't took long for Thalia to take the required oath and become a proper member of Artemis' hunt. Like all the other hunters she shined with subtle silver light which was easy on the eye.

Zeus spoke to Thalia as soon as she had said the last words of the oath, a twinkle in his eyes – "So mote it be. As a hunter you hopefully will find happiness. And as I see, you, Artemis, will need a new lieutenant knowing that your old one has died, I would like to suggest your sister for the job seeing that she is part of your family."

Artemis stopped him before he could continue – "I am sorry father but I already have someone else in mind for that position." - Her voice was steady and resolute as she said that.

"And who, if I may ask, would that be?" - The sky god's voice was now dangerously clam.

Artemis stood her ground, eyes unyielding as she said – "Aurelia has proven to be a great hunter and an extremely loyal person. Zoë never would have taken her on the quest otherwise. Furthermore the two of them had quickly become friends if what I heard from the rest of the quest members is anything to go by and Aurelia also has demonstrated to be strong in battle, even ready to sacrifice herself if she had to for the team's survival."

"Artemis! I let you have a titan's spawn as lieutenant but this goes too far! In Nightshade there was at least a sliver of the blood of a deity but in this monster there is not the slightest drop of divinity! I cannot let that happen when there is a perfect and better solution standing just here next to us!"

The god's word angered Artemis so much that she pointed at him as she shouted – "This is about my domain! No god can interfere in another god's domain. Your precious ancient laws say so! Not without an unanimous vote!" - Artemis was furious and ferocious in the defence of her decision and rights to make it .

"Then let's vote. Everyone can see that Thalia is the better choice. Those who are in favor for the half breed becoming lieutenant of the hunt lift their hands." - There was conviction in Zeus voice as he called for the vote. He was convinced that every god present could see that a monster was not suited for anything but being a namless soldier. Artemis herself was excluded from the vote and even the gods who normaly would be against him in a vote would surely see reason here.

The god who first lifted his hand in favor for Aurelia was, no surprise, Apollo supporting his sister, the next god or rather goddess however was a surprise. Aphrodite lifted her hand and was closely followed by Ares and after a few moments Hermes. So it was decided that there would be no interference in Artemis' domain by the council with no unanimous vote, and as such Aurelia would be the next lieutenant of the hunt.

On his turn for a reward Percy asked for Bessie, the snake cow, to be left alive as a reward and it was granted to him. Shortly after arrangements were made for the sea creature to live on Olympus in a tank which the god of forge himself would create.

...

Artemis' POV

After the meeting was over it was arranged for all the campers to leave for camp again but before they could set off Artemis had Aurelia and Thalia stay.

"I just want to use this opportunity to have a quick talk with the two of you. I want to know how you both feel about the recent developments?" - The goddess asked.

Thalia and Aurelia both took their time to consider what to say before they answered. Thalia was the first to respond to the question taking only a few minutes. - " To be honest I feel great. For the first time in my life as a demigod I don't have the great prophecy looming over me. I also hope to find the same kind of family Aurelia has with the hunt. It will be great to be able to live my life in the most normal way possible for a demigod in my situation."

"I am sure that the hunt will welcome you with open arms. Just know that it is a time of grieving for us. Zoë was well respected and loved by all." - Artemis smiled sadly.

As it seemed that Aurelia would need a bit more time to answer, the goddess took the chance to think about the young girl in front of her. She didn't know a lot about her but from what she knew from the short time they had to speak and what she had done she was sure that this young demi-monster was a loyal soul hell-bent on protecting what she thought of as family. Aurelia was as she saw during her fight with Atlas one of the most talented warriors she ever had seen in a demi-being.

There was so much potential in her newest lieutenant it was stunning. Combined with her troubled past it very well could have been that she as the goddess of the hunt would have had to hunt her down herself if it hadn't been for Pan and his teachings. It made her shiver to think about how easily things could have played out differently if it wasn't for the one small coincidence of Aurelia walking into Pan years ago. Before she could continue in her thoughts about Aurelia and reach deeper depths she was interrupted by the very object of her thoughts.

Aurelia's POV

After hearing Thalia out Aurelia had lost herself in her own thoughts searching for what it was that she really felt. There was just so much going on in her. So many emotions coupled with memories old and new. About her life before the hunt, with Pan and even before that with her _family_ and about the quest.

Trying to work out what she felt Aurelia answered carefully before picking up with more confidence as she went on - "I don't know how to feel. Foremost inside me is this overwhelming sadness. We lost Zoë and Bianca on this quest. Then there is anger. So much anger. Mainly anger directed at myself. I wasn't good enough, I couldn't help them when they needed me the most. I have let my family down. I can feel the hatred building up in me, I want to tear those who have wronged our family apart, watch them suffer and bleed. But I can feel hope, somewhere in me there is hope. I now for the first time have a family, a real family. I may have failed to protect it in the past but in the future I will do everything in my power to ensure it's safety. I will live up to what is expected of me as the lieutenant." - _and far and foremost protect you Artemis._ The last part she thought only in her mind.

When Artemis spoke her voice was heavy. - "I too feel sadness, anger and hate for the same reasons that you do but it is important to not let ourselves be consumed by it. We must stand strong, even against our own emotions, to do our duty and protect the ones we love. I know that you will be a great leader for the hunt and lead them under my command into battle. Don't forget that it is also our duty to protect not only ourselves and our own but also all innocents."

They talked for a bit longer but after that there wasn't much that could be said, before long Artemis teleported them to camp where they would meet the rest of the hunt and would give Zoë and Bianca, even without the body of the young girl, a funeral. They would honour their fallen sisters.

...

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	11. Sparks

**Once again I've taken far to long to update this story and can only hope that you continue to bear with me.** **Let me thank you for continuing to read the story despite my irregular updating nad as always a special thank you to those of you who took the time to review or PM me. I hope you all will like the new chapter.**

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Aurelia's POV

Entering Camp Half-Blood at Artemis' side was really something else. No one, not a single Camper, would dare to insult a Hunter while Artemis was in a five mile radius, not even in private. The large wooden pyres for both Zoe and Bianca were already prepared as they arrived, solemnly built by the Hunters left behind.

They had been built in a large beautiful clearing inside the usually monster-infested forest surrounding the camp, no monster however would ever dare to approach this particular gathering, not with the entire Hunt and Artemis herself surrounding the two wooden constructs standing proudly shining softly in the silvery light of a cloudless night's moon. They were beautiful, in the most depressing, sad way. Both pyres were covered in amazing detailed silver shrouds decorated with scenes of life and death alike, of life struggling in defiance and of softly slipping away and embracing death, softly symbolising the cycle of life every living creature was subjugated to, even the gods.

"Tonight we have come together in order to grant two brave souls the farewell they deserve. Tonight we will mourn them in tandem in our grief, however with the first light of the morning we shall all dry our tears and live our lifes as they would have wanted us to. We will live on and keep them alive by remembering them and their deeds, what they fought for, and what they loved." - Artemis' voice was unusually soft but in the silent clearing everyone around could still hear her as clear as if she would stand next to them.

The crowd gathered for the funeral was slightly larger than most would have expected. Unusually in addition to the Hunters present for a pyre for a fallen sister there was Nico, who was allowed to the funeral seeing as Bianca had been his sister as well, Chiron, who never would miss the funeral of two true heroes despite past issues, and Apollo, who would give the last honours to the ones who fell saving his twin sister.

After Artemis had finished with her words to the others, in silence the fires were lit and the flames hungrily consumed the proud funeral pyres. Soon, catching the attention of everyone but a few there in surprise the crackling sparks of the flames, were caught by the wind and flew high through the dark of the night before seemingly settling in random places across the dark of the sky. It was only as the fires were had almost finished burning to the ground that the surprised yet solemn funeral-goers could finally make out a new form sitting in the night sky.

It showed two girls holding bows standing back to back, arrows at the ready.

"I granted them one of the highest honours possible. Only the bravest and strongest may walk the night sky. So that they can accompany us when we avenge them." - This time Artemis' voice had nothing soft about it, only strength and steely determination.

...

It was now a week since the funeral. The hunters having left Camp Half–Blood almost immediately after.

The news of Aurelia's promotion had been mostly well received by the rest of the Hunters. They were glad to have her as a leader seeing as she was everything they respected and looked for in a leader, reminding them of Zoë in a lot of ways. She was strong, determined, skilled in battle and completely devoted to the Hunt and especially Artemis.

The Hunters had also approved of Thalia as a new sister though most of them were still rather reserved towards her. It didn't go over well with them to have Zeus attempting to interfere in the Hunt's business. Still they all were a family and Thalia was now one of them, they would not let any harm come to any of the Hunt.

It was a cold winter morning when Artemis approched Aurelia. It wasn't the first time they had spoken since the funeral but those had been almost solely about introducing her to her new duties as lieutenant which had left Aurelia somewhat disappointed although she didn't really know why.

"I've heard that you could use some help with the bow."

...

Artemis' POV

During the last week Artemis had taken the time to watch her new lieutenant closely. In Aurelia she saw many traits which should have marked her as _the_ perfect hunter but still there was something strange about it.

To many people with only a vestigial understanding of what it meant to be a hunter it would seem that while Aurelia was outstanding in her attributes, and her choice of weapon differed from what the others used, that she wasn't any different from the other hunters under Artemis' command, at least nothing more than a superficial difference. For Artemis, on the other hand, it couldn't be more obvious. Aurelia was not like the other hunters, her observations had made clear that she was vastly different, but on a very basic, instinctual level.

It was safe to say that Artemis was more than a little intrigued.

Knowing that further observations wouldn't bare anymore results, at least not as fast as she would prefer, Artemis had decided that spending time with the object of her curiosity would be the best way of action. It also was overdue to get to know her second in command on a deeper level than what they had now.

"I've heard that you could use some help with the bow." - Artemis stated to the young hunter.

Turning towards her leader Aurelia answered with mirth in her voice – "I am not as bad as the others claim. I swear it!"

"I can't let one of my Hunters be slacking off at something as crucial as the bow! Imagine the shame if my good-for-nothing brother were to find out!" - Artemis replied in an mostly serious tone, Aurelia was rather taken back for a short moment before she detected the tinge of laughter in her voice and hiding in her silver eyes along with an almost unnoticeable slight twist of her lips. - "To prevent that from ever happening I will be personally helping you. You are my lieutenant after all."

...

Standing at the makeshift archery range near their current camp the goddess and half – monster watched the targets placed a hundred meters away. For a master of the art like Artemis, or as Zoë had been, a shot from this range would be as easy and natural as breathing, however for Aurelia and many normal humans a shot like this would certainly be difficult. Though bolstered with Artemis blessing it could be done.

Watching Aurelia taking shot after shot, giving advice and improvements Artemis again began to ponder about her earlier questions. This was the third time they had met for an archery lesson like this. They would meet every second day in the evening after their duties for the day had been completed. And it proved to be a success, not only had Aurelia improved even over the small amout of time since she had started the training, but Artemis also had succeeded in becoming more familar with Aurelia every time they met.

She found that they both had much in common. They loved nature to a fault and were ruthless in the pursuit of their goals while both being completely loyal to those they loved. Also, both of them were part of the Hunt for similar reasons. Artemis had originally founded the Hunt to compensate for her lack of children and to start a family. Aurelia too had wanted a family and now as part of the Hunt she had gotten exactly what she wanted and would not hesitate to kill to protect it and everyone in it.

During their meetings as Artemis spent private time with Aurelia she had slowly came to the conclusion of what she had found so strange about Aurelia. It was in and of itself so simple she should have seen it from the beginning.

Artemis and the other members of the Hunt and Aurelia were all hunters true but there was a major difference between Aurelia and the rest of the Hunt, herself included. Simply whereas Artemis and in consequence her Hunters embodied the human side of what makes hunting, the one which stood for humanity's dominion over nature, Aurelia was of a more primal and older way of being. The Hunters stood for Humanities way of the Hunt, Aurelia however different, she was a lurker in the shadows, waiting and relying on instincts and her body to make the kill.

The wildness in her new second in command intrigued Artemis more than she would ever have thought. It was exciting for her to be around Aurelia and yet she didn't have a clear guess why.

"I think this is enough for today."

...

Aurelia's POV

"So, how did I do?"- Aurelia asked.

It had only be their third time practicing and she wanted to do Artemis proud, a feeling she knew all to well from her time training with Pan only this time it was even more intense. She didn't want to fail the one who accepted her in this makeshift family with open arms despite of what she was.

"Well, the bow will never be your weapon of choice," - Artemis started and Aurelia felt her innards twist in self disappointment, – "but you do better and better every day we practise."

Immediately she felt relief wash over her. - "I know that I am not as talented as the other hunters when it comes to the bow..."

It was a sore point for Aurelia to be lacking in the one thing her Lady was famous for. She knew that she was a skilled hunter and more than suited for the challenges ahead of her but still it bothered her.

"You don't have to be perfect Aurelia. I just ask for you to give it your all when trying but if the bow is not your preferred weapon then that's fine. And just between the two of us, I once had a huntress born from Poseidon. She was one of the best hunters I ever had skilled, brave, strong and loyal to a flaw but with a bow in her hand she was a danger to everyone and everything but her target. So I'm honestly I'm glad you even hit the target." - Artemis finished with a chuckle remembering one of her favourite hunters from a time long since past.

"There also is the fact that we don't know what to expect from you. Not only are you the first half-blood child of the Nemian lion you also are the first half-monster in the hunt at all. We don't know what you are good at, although we can make guesses with a high probability of being right. Not to forget that with the skills of yours I have already seen in action you are a certainly valuable addition to the Hunt, you can be sure of that otherwise I wouldn't have made you lieutenant."

...

Every night the Hunt gathered around the campfire after finishing their preparation for the next day. Stories of hunts and battle were exchanged and the day's events discussed. Every Hunter had something or another to say and the atmosphere was one of comradery. The highlight of those days would be when Artemis would tell a story. Artemis' stories were always something else, clearly she had inherited some of the same talent which made her brother the self-appointed god of "Entertaining".

On one of those nights, when the gathering was over and most Hunters were already headed to their tents, Aurelia approached Phoebe. The older Hunter was one of the few who didn't seem to be as accepting of her as the new lieutenant as others had been.

Through out the whole day she noticed how the older girl kept looking at her. The expression on Phoebe's face could best be described as guarded when she saw Aurelia heading her way.

"What do you want?" - The red head asked.

One of her duties as lieutenant was to get to know all the other hunters and getting a feeling for them. One could not command an elite group like this without an understanding of what each individual member could do and was like, especially with a war about to break out.

"Interesting how I wanted to ask you nearly the exact same question. I noticed you looking at me and thought that you might have a question you'd like to ask." - Aurelia countered not unfriendily.

"As a matter of fact I do have a question, just not for you." - Phoebe replied, - "I asked myself why Lady Artemis would choose you as Zoë's successor. You are not as old or experienced as almost any of the other Hunters, some of them centuries old, nor as long a member of the Hunt. I asked myself why you were chosen and when I couldn't come up with an answer I decided to observe you during your day doing your job. And finally I have come to a conclusion."

"And what would that conclusion be?" – Asked Aurelia in a calm voice masking her anxiety at finally finding out of what the other girl and most likely the rest of the veterans thought of her.

Phoebe took a long moment before answering apparently thinking of how to say what was on her mind. - "I have been a part of the Hunt since the Age of Heroes. Behind Zoë I had been the second oldest member of the Hunt... although I'm now the oldest I guess. I have seen what it takes to be the lieutenant of the Hunt, you'll have to be the unwaving rock in midst of the storming sea when others will despair, and more than that you also have to be a rock that others can hold on to and can help those falling to stand up to what faces them. I have seen Zoë and for a short time her predecessor handle this task. They both were strong females mentally, emotionally and physically." - Phoebe's serious but calm voice stopped for a moment, looking Aurelia straight into the eyes, before she continued - "Looking at you I can see the potential to be a leader just as great as Zoë had been, but I suppose only the challenges of this new era ahead of us will show for sure."

With that Phoebe rose from the log she had been using as a seat and turned away starting to walk towards her tent before looking back at Aurelia who hadn't moved and finished with a smirk – "And I look forward to stand at your side when you will prove yourself as a worthy lieutenant in leading the Hunt into battle."

With Phoebe gone Aurelia was alone, the others finishing in going to bed long before. With a sigh she sat down where moments before the ancient hunter had been sitting and stared in to the slowly dying fire.

_Will I be ready for these "challenges of a new era" when they come around?_

...

Lion's POV (Timeskip – one year)

It's been a year since he last saw his daughter. A year he spent searching for answers. There had been so many questions inside his head, too many to let him rest, and all of them revolving around Aurelia, his first born daughter.

Last year was only the second time he ever had seen Aurelia, the first time had been right after her birth. Back then he had left Aurelia with her mother, Lily, and the fool named James. Oh gods how he hated James!

But anything else would have been irresponsible of him.

He had no place in her life nor in Lily's. Not only would his presence have attracted all sort of trouble and attention, he himself had been in danger staying.

For all the love he held for Lily she still was just a mortal, an extraordinary, intelligent, and caring mortal but still a mortal, and he knew first hand how dangerous it was to give all ones love to a mortal. They had just no time to truly live.

To compare the life of an immortal and a mortal would be like comparing a campfire to a spark. One would still burn brightly into the night while the other had long since faded into nothingness.

That said, he was aware that some sparks could light fires which would spread over the world burning the old and bring about a new era, it had happened before, but still the spark would quench.

To leave them was a way to evade the inevitable feeling of loss and the pain coming with it, he knew that, he had tried to forget because to forget was still better than to fall into the emptiness again. The last time he had fallen it had been so bad he almost faded after this upstart Hercules killed him.

The name of his love had been Ἀγλαΐα, Aglaia. She was the love of his immortal life. Only Lily had come near the level of love he had felt for Aglaia in seeing how similar they both were.

After she was killed by her old village, for loving him, a monster, he fell into a raging killing spree in which he slayed without thought, terrorizing the village responsible for her death. Many heroes had come to stop him lured in by the promise of eternal fame but every single one failed, fallen before his claws... that was until Hercules showed up and challenged him.

It had been an uneven battle. Hercules was well rested and had come prepared for the fight while he himself was mad with pain not having rested or feed since Aglaia's death. That was not to say that Hercules wasn't one of the most powerful demigods to ever walk the earth, but even now as a god, if only a minor one, he would still be able to maul him if they fought.

Instead of reforming after he had been killed as usual, this time he had found his very essence vanishing. The only thing keeping him from entering the void forever was his wish to leave this world with a legacy before vanishing. This natural urge was what he had to thank for being here right now.

And here was now in front of a man he had known for quite sometime in mortal standards. They never had seen eye to eye even before his true form became knowledge to the one in front of him but this was the man holding many of the answers he so desperately sought.

"Lemon drop?"

...

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